@roverandbrew I did some additional digging on this gun. If it is legit as it seems, the gun is worth $3000-$5000. (assuming no undisclosed defects, modifications, that its internally pristine, etc.)
If you're going to sell it, definitely sell it. If you're going to keep it, it matters little whether you paint it purple or put a pic rail with night vision on it.
But keep in mind, simply handling that gun or shooting it from the range is tossing hundred dollar bills in the fire. The winchester collectors are such obsessive folks that every ding, every molecule of bluing lost by racking the bolt, this stuff is all accounted for in the valuation of such a gun. This is why I do not collect winchesters because you cannot collect them and enjoy using them at the same time as they are incompatible themes. Anyone that claims otherwise does not have collector grade winchesters.
If it were me, I would sell it for FMV and use the money to buy a gun you will enjoy using the rest of your days. If you're going to keep it, get it cleaned of debris and micro rust and display it in a glass case where it never gets safe marks from other guns dinging it.