Car cranks but will not start I replaced the spark plugs and wires

I was given this car by a friend and it's been sitting for awhile, and when I got it it didn't have any fuses under the dash and I replaced the spark plugs and wires on it. Then I had the battery hooked up with cables to my husband's truck, tried to crank it, it turned over but won't start. So we sprayed starter fluid in the top of the motor and it started one time and backfired under the hood, so then we checked the gas and it was bad, so we siphoned the gas out, put fresh new gas and still even with starting fluid and it hooked up to the truck battery, it will not start but cranks, can I tell me what it could be. Also they lost the key so my husband had to bust the ignition and now used a screwdriver to turn over the ignition. I see there's some copper wires around the ignition and it looks like a couple of those wires are broken.