Thank you Curbtender for the re-post. As pictured, this Tam has the proper head and downtube badges but no Mt. Tam decal.
It came to me used and equipped with a Shimano 600 headset; Dura-Ace hubs and cassette; Deore XT M-700 f. der; New XT (SIS) M-730 shifters, r. der, and cranks; Superbe Pro seatpost w/ the Hite-rite; Suntour XC brake levers, rollercam, and XC Compe pedals.
It has the scalloped but not beveled seat collar with the early fast-back seatpost clamp. The bottle mount braze-ons do not have the reinforcement stars like many of the later (and earlier) models. The seatstay rack mounts are modern and less like threaded washers than the early Fishers and Ritcheys.
It has a Nitto roller-stem and Fisher aluminum handle bar.
The ideal desert trail set-up. Replace the chain and brake pads from time to time and the bearings hardly ever -- and everything on this bike will run perfectly and last forever.
Similarly numbered 19" Tams were Real Teal blue or dark blue to light blue fade or yellow to green fades. This is the only Maroon Tam I have in my database so I will assume a custom color.
The serial # is 19T96 which puts it in the late '86 to early '87 build range.
# 19T95 appears as a blue-blue fade on Retrobike. (It is the one re-popped in red with Columbus logos on it.)
19T93 and 94 were Real Teal and similarly had no Mt. Tam decals applied. BUT they did incorporate stared bottle mounts and used the washer style rack mounts. I suspect that they were built by a different frame builder than the builder of my maroon example. 19T93 is shown with a bullmoose and it is possible that the maroon example here was retrofitted with the later bar/stem combo.
Would love to compare other databases to get a more complete idea of what was going on at that time.