First of all, I love this preservation. It looks great and makes me very nostalgic. That said, I have a crazy idea:

I'm wondering if there is more dynamic range in the shadows and highlights than could be captured in your telecine. In the same way that photographers expose landscapes for three different exposures (shadow, midtones, highlights) and then combine in post as an HDRI (High Dynamic Range Image), would it be possible to do that when you telecine the 16mm print? If we could see more of the highlight and shadow detail, this might be the basis for the best transfer of Star Wars yet.

Plus, it wouldn't be difficult to do a test on just a few frames from the film before committing to it!