I recently scored a free 1974 Deelite Apollo 10 speed. As far as I can tell, it has all original parts, but most of the stickers have faded out and there are a few places where the paint has failed completely on the tubes.
As a project bike, would you consider stripping and painting the frame, or simply replace what needs done (tires, bar tape) and ride it as is?
Of course you can do what you want to do - leave it, strip and paint it, touch it up, turn it fuchsia…
But for me the real question on mucking with vs. carefully restoring (or leaving as is) comes down to whether I’d call it “vintage” or just plain “old.”