Primary problem you will have with an 80s bike is there are relatively few who know much about them. I can assure you that 40 years ago people rode in comfort and with safety. If you are surrounded by a choir screaming that the one true path is to buy a new bike every couple of years you are out of luck.

When I have refitted and tuned 80s bikes it is invariable that there will be major assembly errors, usually from the shop that originally sold the bike. Raleighs were not designed to be final assembled by unsupervised minimum wage teenagers, which was the norm for US in 80s. This does mean it is simple to find old bikes that have never been ridden. They won’t become rideable without a knowledge base. “Fighting the bike” as the OP has it always means something is wrong. A new or an old bike should not fight the rider. Of course bikes are still badly assembled and new ones can fight back too.