Bob,
I haven't a clue where Ron Smith is. I've tried to locate him on several occassions with no luck. I really wish I could find him. He seems to have disappeared.
Jim Allen was not directly employed at Masi, Carlsbad in the early years but was directly connected to Ted Kirkbride who was involved in various ways from the very beginning of the project. I believe Jim Allen was the first "outsource" for building wheels for Masi once they stopped doing it in house. Jim Allen became the official Masi painter somewhere around 1978 and also held the position much longer than anyone else, working as the painter until sometime around 1994 or '95.
If someone could turn up the real Ronald Earl Smith, I would be eternally grateful. Any hounddogs out there?
Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA
>
> In a message dated 7/7/03 2:35:15 PM, classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org
> writes:
>
> >Time again to set the "Wayback Machine" for a trip to the past. Set the
> >controls to early 1974, Mr. Peabody. We will be visiting the Masi, CA
> >workshop in Carlsbad, California as fledgling framebuilder Brian Baylis
> >gets his first opportunity to participate in the actual framebuilding
> >process.
>
> > Thank God for Ron Smith. He was so much more sensitive to the
>
> > fine points of craftsmanship than the production minded Italians.
>
> Incredible stuff... Thanks!!! This is definitly the kind of reading that
> makes it fun being a listmember. (And this particular chapter also goes a long
> way toward explaining why, within a few short years, the California frames
> became more desirable than the Italian ones).
>
> What is Ron Smith doing these days? And was Jim Allen one of the early alums?
>
> Bob Hovey
> Columbus, GA