Originally Posted by
Road Fan
The decals could be the product of a repaint - I don't know if such a red was one of the colors back then. My 1980 does not have Masi America decals on the seat tube.
The red-orange finish (I call it baby-aspirin pink or Campbell's cream of tomato, with milk) goes at least as far back as 1976. That's when the founder of our racing club bought his in that color.
I only wish the taxonomies produced by guys like Hovey and Sheldon Brown classified fork bends as thoroughly as they did decals. Frame builders often used whatever was in supply, including decals, double-plate, Fischer, or semi-sloping fork crowns, forged or cast lugs, etc. But their fork bends tend to be unique and consistent, at least for a given range of head angles.
The dropouts and cable guides suggest to me that Englert's bike is older than '80. And I doubt it's been repainted because most refinisher-types seem to prefer sexier colors.