My guess is that bike needs quite a bit of work, new pads, new cables and housing, new chain, freewheel and chainrings (or cranks), new tires and tubes and probably bar tape or grips. There might be more but without the bike in front of me it is hard to give a good estimate but knowing bikes of that era and hearing the story it certainly leads me to believe it was not well maintained and needs quite a bit of work. Unfortunately there is not a lot of free stuff in this world it has a price.

Spoke protectors are useless junk and I do mean useless junk. If your derailleur is properly adjusted it your chain cannot go into the spokes and if you have an impact that moves the derailleur to cause that issue a piece of plastic is not going to help you you will have greater issues. The metal ones at least looked nice but honestly proper adjustment and alignment and not using worn out parts is more important than a piece of plastic. I have had enough of those things that actually cause more problems with the free hub not moving (in some cases) than anything else. Worn out old parts that are not adjusted need to just be replaced or adjusted not hoping and praying that a thin disc of plastic will solve those problems somehow.