I have the original Tamiya leopard I in the stash. That would look good with an 88,circa 1948.
Seems like a cool idea. I would be tempted to "tart up" the Leo 1 a bit to give it more of a WW2-inspired feel.
On the easier side, you could model the Dutch Leo 1s that were modified to (not really) resemble Panthers in the movie version of
A Bridge Too Far.
LINKLINKLINKIf you wanted to do some more work, there's something along the lines of modeler Dieter Bihlmaier's E-55:
LINKI really wish I could find a "how to" or WIP for this model.