I think all questions are answered by the picture of the seat stay. There was no fault too big to stop this train from leaving the station. When this was built, dealers were screaming for bikes, it was crazy. $80 is probably $1000 now, these really weren't that cheap.

I have seen pictures of bikes like this where the tube wasn't all the way inserted, but they usually had a miter on them. So having a tube with a square end would be somewhat unexpected.

Do we have to take up a collection in order to get this thing cut up?