Is this mini bike worth saving?

Back when I was a kid, I wanted a go-kart and a mini bike really bad. I eventually acquired both a go-kart and a mini bike, but just like cars, extra stuff tends to appear in the yard if you wait long enough. My dad would always bring home engines and parts, and one time he even brought home a mini bike frame.

Fast forward about 20 years, and I'm doing some yard cleanup on my parents' property. My dad is a pack rat, and he never gets rid of anything, so he had a pile of broken lawnmowers out back. I was filling my truck for a scrap run, when I uncovered this:

More pics:

This is the one that concerns me the most. The front forks are going to need to be replaced.

That's the mini bike frame he brought home all those years ago! It's a bit rusty, but the frame seems solid. The gears, rear brake, hub, and forks are rusted solid though. The forks will need to get replaced.

I have two questions: any way to tell who made it, and is it worth saving?

That is cool. Worst case, can it be garage art?

In reply to David S. Wallens:

If there's a way to make it functional, I'd rather go that route, because my garage is barely big enough to showcase said "garage art".

Based solely on hearsay, I think that probably is worth saving... or money. Hipsters seem to like blasting around on these things. A close friend thought he wanted to join in the fun after seeing said hipsters ride past his apartment repeatedly. He returned from CL with severe sticker shock.

Looks like you need a tub of one of GRM's sponsors to start with.

And it should end up in "pit bikes" area- with a before and after shot. (Do It)

In reply to WilD:

I was poking around Craigslist, and when I saw functional examples going for $400+, I thought it might be cool to build this one up. I have a line on an engine, but I don't know what to do for the rest of the stuff like brakes, gears, a seat, gas tank, etc. Where can you even buy stuff like that?

Not to be an enabler or anything, but here's a place that sells every part you need to get it going. Fun little project, but I suspect it will cost as much in parts as a new one.

you might want to check out the oldminibikes.com forum

There are lots of places to get parts. I looked into building one for a pit bike and the kits aren't all that expensive. Lots of folks buy a $99 HF Predator engine for 'em. You can even get electric start motors for a couple hundred.

Probably the only way you'll be able to identify the manufacturer without markings is to try to match up the design with one of the old manufacturers. There used to be a lot of them in the US and there are still a couple (Taco?) that started building them here again.