I sold Italian Masi's for a short time when I could get them in early 1984. We had a batch of Prestige that came from Alberto when Rocky Mountain/Masi USA grudgingly let us have them after thinking we were trying to go around them. We didn't know of their existence when we ordered the bikes as they had just started. We subsequently became a dealer for them and sold a bunch of Italian 3Vs when they first came out and then a few of the American ones. The latter had a red-white-blue stipe on the seat tube instead of the Italian colors. Other than that they looked identical, so I am not sure if they were actually made here or just painted here. They all had the classic flat Masi fork crown. I was not still selling them when Torelli took it over so don't know what those looked like or the different issues they had.
And here is the latest. Now that Masi/Haro is not making frames in the US any more, Alberto is freed from the do-not-compete contract he signed back then, because that only applied to frames made in the US. So he is going to sell his Italian made Masi's in the US again soon. I have signed on to be a dealer for them. Get your orders in soon. They ain't exactly cheap but you can still have your very own Eye-talian Masi!
We won't even talk about those Taiwan welded abominations that Haro is passing off as a Masi. Faliero rotolerebbe sopra nella sua tomba.
Ciao!
Bob Freeman
Elliott Bay Bicycles
Seattle