BB,
A good friend of mine heated his farmhouse with a Riteway, until he bought a Hearthstone Mansfield, several years ago. And it was a "tall, steel can...", as you say. It also ate a voracious amount of wood, if I recall correctly. His stove was from the 1970's, I'd say, if not earlier. He later offered it to me, for my cottage, but I declined--it was too tall for my fireplace installation and, quite honestly, I didn't see that it would be a big step up from my crappy, stamped-steel box stove--no offense to the O.P. (I need a new, Class A chimney to go "up and out," in the cottage, and then I can install any stove I want--probably a 30-NC/Summers Heat 50.
Needless to say, my friend really likes his Hearthstone, and would never go back. (Personlly--and no offense to Heathstone owners like my friend, or to ANY owners of stoves put together with stove cement--because I'm lazy, I don't like any stove put together with stove cement, which can drop out, requiring a rebuild, which is why I only consider welded, steel plate stoves, but that is a topic for another thread).
From what I've read here, some people are happy with a carefully-run "smoke dragon" from the 1970's, (in fact, that's what I'm still doing, in my cottage, but I am limited by the existing fireplace installation and the cost of a new stack) but for my money, I would think an inexpensive Englander 30-NC would be a massive step up from any 1970's technology.
Just my .02--YMMV.
Peter