That Dawes probably captures the aesthetic I was thinking of best...imagine that 'look' of a frame with nice wheels and an overall very nice & nicely operating build.
In the '80s, I had a very nice mountain bike that I used to commute to college, get around, etc. and when it was brand new I stickered it up, put some random splotches of paint and even purposely over-greased the components and smeared dirt on the faces of them to make it look like a valueless POS to the very active bike theiving community. I could do that approach (a lot like the Cannondale above looks), but I dunno. I was even considering hand painting the lettering in the 'ghost' of the seat tube and downtube decals and then sanding it down to give it a sort of weathered lettering look (common rat rod car approach...think of the lettering on the door of the Sanford & Son truck, if that reference isn't too archaic for you).