Rca 21-t639

[fujifrontier]

Hey guys. I recently found this lovely RCA 21-T639 outside of a house, a few minutes before the garbage truck came and took it away forever.

The lady who threw it out (not literally thrown, by its condition) said that it came with her house and had been in a garage area for years, she plugged it in and got sound but no picture, and she didn't want it taking up space so she kicked it to the kerb.

I saw it was missing a ballast tube so I dropped one in (after waiting 2 days for it to arrive from ebay), and plugged the TV in (don't yell; i figured if it had already been powered on and got sound, i just might be lucky....). I got sound and a blurry horizontal line. It got very sharp and then I heard that "TV high pitched mosquito noise" go very high, the sound cut off and I saw the Horiz tube (the one with the little cap) arcing purple and dropping sparks down its interior so i immediately unplugged the TV.

*sigh* you can flame me now.

What do you think it would take to restore this old beast to working order? It would look so nice my living room. Is there anyone who does restorations for sets like this?