Yeah, the vintage style box would be a huge plus for this. I still have a hard time believing this is going to ship in one 4' long piece. Why wouldnt they break it in the middle so the box is better proportioned - and stronger? And Hasbro always did an amazing job of consolidating vehicles for packaging (the Republic Gunship was amazingly tightly boxed)
A 4'+ box is just asking for trouble in terms of condition and may impact resale value - very expensive to ship by an individual. No resale, so I guess everyone will just have to be buried with it... or in it.