Bit of advice needed re: bent? seat tube

Hi all, I wondered if anyone could save me a lot of time by telling me if the seat tube on this 50s Raleigh is supposed to look like this. I've just put the wheels and cranks back on after it's been sat in the shed for 6 months (I bought it for the mud guards..) and noticed the bend.
Is it part of the design or has someone actually managed to 'squash' the frame?

http://yfrog.com/h326r4j

tl;dr - Please save me building this bike up (as original as possible, like) by telling me if 1950s Raleigh seat tubes looked like this (bent).

Thanks!
Doug

ive got an old hercules bike from the 50s/60s and the bar is nice and straight. Im no expert but maybe your frame has has some sort of head on collision at one point

Check whether the paint has cracked around the bend, that might indicate whther it was pianted like that.

Quite possible. There's no damage anywhere else though and the (presumably original) forks are fine.
I'll just continue to build it up, it's not about to snap so should be fine.
Thanks.

Check whether the paint has cracked around the bend, that might indicate whther it was pianted like that.

I've had a look but it all looks fine. I think it might be a respray though as the paint is slightly streaky. This might be how paint from that era looks though! (I literally have no idea.)

Have worked on a great many bikes and never seen one like that.. think it's been crashed/bent mate, sorry..

Chainring is lovely though :)

Have worked on a great many bikes and never seen one like that.. think it's been crashed/bent mate, sorry..

Chainring is lovely though :)

Thanks a lot mate. Might ditch it/fleabay it (you never know).
I know, I love those chainrings. It's SO heavy though.

might not be terminal... i bent the chainstays very slightly on my old race bmx dropping stairs and it's still solid today about 10 years later! Steel is tough stuff.

Examine the area to check for cracks, also check over the rest of the frame and fork carefully. you do not want the fork/headtube snapping.