I just saw an interesting solution to this problem.

I gave a friend a '50s Rigby roadster The decals (transfers) were really interesting, ("Rigby Brothers of Manchester") but clearly irreplaceable. The paint was shot, especially the fenders. So he masked off the area around the decals and had the rest sprayed with computer matched paint, then striped like the original finish. I haven't seen it in person but the photos look nice.