I picked up that VT-71 that was on
CL for $20 in this thread
I had it bookmarked for a week or more and planned on calling today but the ad was deleted last night. I clicked on eBay before going to bed late last night and low and behold, there it was. I figured a flipper got it and was asking a ransom for it but no, it was listed BIN for $26, I couldn't let it go for that so I bought it, drove down this morning and got it.
Turns out the Son of the original owner was there, he told me it was purchsed in Los Angeles and he remembered watching it when he was 10 years old so that was pretty cool.
The serial number is 34000 something so early but not really, really early.
He had also found the back and HV cover that wasn't there when it was listed, that was a nice bonus, said he couldn't find the knobs though.
Got it home and started looking it over and noticed some wadded up paper stuffed in the back next to the HV transformer, I just had a feeling about it and it was correct, i found two of the knobs wrapped in some crumbly old phone book pages!
No date on the pages but the listings were pretty old stuff, like ""loudspeaker repair" probably won't find that one in a modern phone book, I also found an ad for a Locksmith and the graphic shows a early 60's Corvair Van service truck so the knobs have probably been wrapped up in the back since the mid 60's.
Anyhow, I backed my working VT-71 up to it and connected the CRT, fired it up and it works great! This set is very restorable, the finish is shot and one rear corner has a chunk out of the veneer but it's complete except for one knob and the bottom plate, which I probably have somewhere around here.