Ever since Topps Heritage hit and hit BIG in 2001; companies realized that going back to the future made sense not only as part of their product mix but also tended to be very profitable.
IIRC; Topps did T205; T206 in about 2002-03 and Cracker Jack sets in like 2004-05 amongst others usages of vintage sets. If the years are slightly off I'm sorry; I don't feel like checking a Beckett magazine or the OPG for those details.
In Football; Pacific was way ahead of the game and created Pacific Goudey in 1997. There are tons more -- these are things I can think of off the top of my head.
Collectors loved them -- because they brought back cards they were aware of and were faithful to the idea but featured the modern players from which the manufacturers made their money!
Off Track a little -- and I love the heritage set -- but I was next to John Rumeriez (sic) at the National and we agreed that Topps could, just by being a tad more faithful to the original; have plenty of their "quirks" without needing to create even more. Obviously, in some years, the creation of a quirk or 2 makes sense. But here are some examples of things that should have been done in Heritage.
the 2001 Set -- was brilliantly set up like the original with cards #48 and 49 featuring a braves and a yankees pitcher. However; no one thought of putting the wrong bios on the new set.
And where were the white and grey backs the last couple of years. Why not just mimic the original on that -- you get all the collectors to do master sets; why not add that twist.
There's more but I'm tired
And I want to go back and read more about other more explosive threads
Regards