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The early ones (1989 to early 91) had shorter headtubes then the later ones and the seat stays met the seat tube lower down. The headtube on my 21" 89 is the same as my old 19" Prestige.
As Brocklander says, this is an early one, short headtube. I think the top tube should be level too, so I'd say the fork is a bit long and that's adding the slight slope to top tube and hence throwing the bottom bracket up too.
Yes i'd certainly say it was a 17 inch model and most definitely a late 80's to early 90's and those forks were probably put on to replace a pair of rigid one's and i just hope who ever buys it take's the time to fully restore it as that frame looks in fair nick regardless of the paint ..
I gotta agree with you their Tony regarding the forks which as i've noticed have got boots on them so this could be a sign of an 80's model as i'm assuming most forks made in the 90's didn't have the boots on them .