Here is a link http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/tsd88/7.jpg to a page of the 1988 TSD catalog that describes their painting. TSD marketed their bikes around the premise that the american market wanted Italian designed and built bikes but wanted American paint and polish. Most of the bike lines they imported came into the US as unpainted frames and then were aligned, painted, chased , faced and delivered to US dealers. Italian paint and chrome was pretty suspect in those days and this gave the consumer a better product and also TSD would benefit on import taxes and duties because they become a "secondary manufacturer".

All that aside, the Rossins' they imported did come painted, but to the same spec. My frame has a decal that says " Rossin, Hand Built in Italy, The DuPont System".

vjp