Been there ... done that. My story, for what its worth: My first (dearly departed) Capo, a 1960 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 45211, was involved in my only bike-car crash (classic left hook while I was on a descent) in November 1976. Head tube was pushed back a bit, and top and down tubes bent just behind the butting (531 tubing). The after-market fork I had added survived just fine. (I think the friend who gave me the frame sans fork might have weakened the frame by being in a similar crash in which the fork acted as the sacrificial element.) Anyway, I had it straightened at the local bike shop and rode it another 6 years, until I was climbing a local 12% grade and started to hear it creaking with every pedal stroke. I looked down to see a crack gradually propagating around the downtube, starting from the bottom. I gingerly rode it about 4 miles home, stripped off all of the parts, and gave the frame to a friend who was teaching bicycle repair and metal shop at a local night school.