Yeah, $28 is still a good amount of money in my world - especially considering this fail was on a bike for which I paid $100. But the chrome Sunlite CroMo canti fork I bought cost a multiple of what the repair would, and it's not the right color. On the plus side, those forks come with a really long steer tube threaded all the way down so you can cut them to fit. I used three 20mm 1" spacers to allow me to raise my Nitto Albatross bars way up without spending on a Technomic stem. So it probably evened out in the end $$ wise. Enough of me hijacking the thread though. I just thought on the odd chance
@HARPO hadn't considered the pro option (assuming someone in the area would perform that work), it's a way to go. If everything else on that bike gets sorted out of the parts bin, and he's more comfortable farming out the straightening, then I'd say getting a cool '50s Rudge for $30 plus tires and incidentals could be a bargain. I bought a ridable '52 Dunelt for $30 once...