spend the effort on the panel beating and any colour looks good. If you go for the current colour, then if your painting skills are a bit ahhh dicey, then imperfections are hidden eaisly and you dont have to do the internals (doors, dash etc)
and it also keeps it in line with what was available at the time. i like the styling that my car gives and the sky blue of mine is a typcal car of its era. It helps maintain its originality and besides I like sleeper cars. Looking plain jane, but have some sting under the bonnet.

There is a page on this site somewhere that has a heap of pis of different colours. Check that out, it moght give you some ideas.