I was sort of thinking that thing look a bit rough, the painted chrome and Chinese saddle gave me a bad impression of it. . It had he looks of something that was thrown together just to flip. The bent forks and bars sound like it was something that was laying in some yard somewhere getting walked on before being put back together.
I picked up a ladies Raleigh Sports for $40 a while back, the bike rode great, but I bought it for parts.
I actually rode the bike for a mile or two before coming back and stripping it. I needed the fork, cg, and wheels for a men's frame I had here. Before mounting up the fork, I put it in the gauge and both blades were an inch off to the left and the left fork was back 1/4". Yet the bike rode fine like that. I straightened the fork, put the bike together and all was fine. The parts bike looked decent, the bent fork wasn't at all obvious. I used the wheels, forks, and cg from the ladies bike, plus swapped over the Prestube rear rack. The guy who sold me the parts bike said it had been used in the city when his wife was in college years ago, so it likely got some abuse while being parked in the bike rack. A good solid kick is all it takes. I had a Schwinn that came to me with a fork bent off to one side years ago, when I straightened the fork, the bike pulled hard to the left. A former shop owner told me someone likely bent the fork to fix the pull. It turned out that the rear of the frame was bent upward on the left side about 3/8", something that didn't really show until we put a frame gauge to it.
You may be able to better straighten the forks with a long board tied or taped to one blade at a time. The longer the lever the more control you'll have. A string can be used to measure with. I've seen homemade fork gauges made from string, cardboard, or even wood. The easiest to use I've seen was a piece of 1/4" all thread rod with length of wood or metal that reaches nearly up to the fork crown. So long as the gauge stick and rod are square at 90 degrees, it'll work.
Here's a simple to make gauge. Make sure the rod or gauge bar is centered between the fork ends, then bend the blades to center the gauge bar between the fork blades at the crown. .
Homemade fork gauge
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