I'd strip and paint silver too Not only what Gilbert did, but Doug Peck has an exact match silver and appropriate lettering.
Then, there's another route: I found a bunch of cars that were in MUCH worse shape and beyond salvaging. So I completely stripped them and painted them to match the Lionel Flyer EP-5 in MR colors. Blasphemy? You didn't see these cars "before!":
And for variety, two of the more recently released cars, again repainted to match.:
For me the bottom line is if the item is in great shape, I clean and conserve. It it's too far gone, it's fair game for repaint (new releases are fair game). That makes all the difference. Would I repaint a well preserved Gilbert item? No. Would I repaint or bash a common, scraped, dented, worn or basically junk item? Most certainly.
