I'm not sure I'd be so pessimistic. I suppose I don't deal with Huffy bikes enough.

The bike will never be an expensive racing bike. On the other hand, there is nothing that you can do to it that will decrease its value. So, it may be a perfect bike to practice greasing bearings, truing wheels, and etc.

There are quite a few of the old bikes on the road, and they serve people well as commuter bikes and beater bikes.

Not everyone has to, or even wants to ride a vintage Italian racing bike.

That said, be careful of what you spend on the bike. A good set of tires could set you back as much as the bike is worth. Don't hire a shop to do a few hundred bucks worth of work on it.

Your local bike co-op may have used 27" tires in good shape. Just check them out well. At least our local co-op gets quite a few badly damaged tires in and tries to resell them.