Welcome to the forum, Arena. It's great to have another Lawn-Boy collector here at LMF.
I can't tell you anything about your mower but there is another member, hankthecrank, who might know. I'm pretty sure he has at least one mower around that vintage and he seems to know a lot.
I wouldn't remove the original paint -- but that's just me. Does it run? It is self-propelled -- correct?
Do you have any other Lawn-Boy mowers?