Hi Jim, Was that the 1983 Mercian on eBay recently? If it was, congrats, <grumble, grumble> that looked like a great bike you outbid me on. Any local pro shop can at least evaluate the fork for you, if not straighten it. The gorillas at UPS have bent/damaged a few bikes on me. It took over 4 months for the shipper/importer of my new 2000 Bob Jackson to work with UPS claims back then. It all worked out, but it was slooowwww..... I've bit the bullet on the others and have just straightened the derailleur hangers, forks, etc. I'm very friendly with my delivery driver, and I educated him the first time he dropped a bike box on end onto my driveway . (So is that what those "this end up" arrows mean???) Plus they pack the cross country trailers in the most efficient manner and bikes usually end up on the bottom, on side or end.
Sorry about your bike,
Ed Kasper
Detroit