Mark wrote:
So, I think it'll be a stuggle to get $4-5K for a 70's Masi in the current market. In fact, I've never seen them sell that high at all. A typical
price is in the $2000-2500 range for a nice complete example. But if our CR friends do get $4-5K, more power to them. Masi's are my favorite. I own three 1974/75 Gran Criteriums, one of which I bought brand new in 1975.
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Nice as that 1980 Masi may have been (and it looked nice enough), you cannot compare the price of a 60cm 1980 GC with the price of a 56 or 57cm 1974 or 1975 GC. Two completely different animals. And leave us not forget the italian GCs.
I certainly agree the market for 70s bikes is softer than it was. But I have trouble believing that if a clean, original-paint, twin-plate Carlsbad GC from 1974 or 1975 showed up on ebay tomorrow, with all the correct parts, in a 56 or 57, in a good color (tomato, sammontana, dark metallic blue, champagne, Faema for instance) that it wouldn't close in on 3K. An italian GC from the same period, or a little earlier, would likely go well over 3K, even now.
I actually think the seller of the aforementioned 1980 GC set his buy-it-now about right, or maybe slightly low. The later cast-lug Masi GCs are very nice bikes, but they simply do not have the appeal of the earlier bikes. I've owned both, and I never had much love for the later GCs.
Truth is, you simply don't see early Carlsbad or early italian GCs on ebay very often. Not now, not two years ago. And when you do, there is generally a lot of interest in them. I know I have no interest in selling mine, and I suspect others who own them feel the same. Unless it was to finance another one that was nicer than the one I have. So, until we all die, I expect those bikes to be uncommon on the market.
Charles Andrews
Los Angeles