I have seen countless photos of cannondale but I have absolutely never come across such a poorly polished piece ..... have you ever seen anything like this?
I believe a Cannondale employee took the unfinished frame home for "free" and later liveried it to his liking. The factory would never allow this to leave QC this way. I even highly doubt the frame was heat treated....
That's along the lines of what I was thinking. I have no idea about the heat treatment relative to the best place in the production process to snag a frame to take home in the lunch box.
In oldenzaal holland factory that was almost impossible, they all were numbered and frames that did not make it passed qc were scrapped at site.
Employees could buy overstock and rest parts the pro teams for reduced prices but that was it.