These days, the classics are bloody expensive - I saw an advert for a music instrument auction in the paper recently where the star lot was a pre-CBS strat, estimate of £10-15, 000 GBP. When a 58-60 Les Paul comes up for sale, I've seen estimates of five times that and given that Gibson lost their ledgers during the move from Kalamazoo, it's hard to guarantee you're getting a genuine one unless it's got good provenancing evidence. Personally, I'd want to play a vintage classic before buying it to see whether the reality is as good as the dream.
As Henrim says, follow your dream if that's really what you want but given this site is dedicated to building instruments, there's always the option of building yourself an exact replica - a friend of mine has designs on building himself an exact copy of a '58 LP, or getting someone to do it for him, with handmade pickups to match original PAFs as closely as possible. I've long wanted an 8-string Rick which are pretty much unobtainable in the UK, so I've been gathering together timber and hardware to make my own and if I don't muck it up, it'll be to a higher spec than a factory Rick!