1948 M. Bonvicini Decals Applied

Gustavo Salmon created the decal set from the degraded decals and details from the headtube badge. Twice.  First when I thought the graphics had been black and silver. Then another set after we discovered those were degraded from red, blue and gold.

before

To say Jeffrey Bock "touched up" the blue panel paint may be the understatement of the decade. He mixed a match for the existing translucent blue panel and went into the paint booth with two air brushes, blue in one hand and clear in the other. Blending them as he sprayed, he repaired the faded and gouged paint and blended it into the existing paint. The end 1 1/2" of the downtube panel and most of the seat tube panel are still original paint. There was a dark thin "ghost" at the ends of the panels where we surmised there had been a "world stripes" transfer that Galmozzi favored. After applying the decals Jeff went back over the panels with a soft clearcoat, matching the sheen of the existing green paint.

______________________________________________________________

The bicycle came to me with a small front stub fender. The remaining fenders were left in an Italian garage or barn decades ago. The fenders are Honjo reproductions with the same profile and Italian style wishbone stays. Jeff Bock blended three green paints to achieve the match to the frame paint - an interesting task, as the original green has faded to different tones all over the frame. So he was matching to an average?

It does not show well in this photo, but there are faded sections of a blue pinstripe. Matching that stub fender, John Parker will paint a blue pinstripe at the color break. In this day and age how many people have the skillset to paint a thin curving pinstripe freehand? After Parker  finished, Jeff applied a crest decal on the rear fender in the same location as the vintage Cinelli fenders, which were our only frame of reference. 

I'm cleaning and polishing wheels, brakesets, pedals, etc. We are getting closer.