Subject: Re: Univac III on Ebay

From: Jeffrey Sharp <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Mar 13 14:36:26 2003

On Wednesday, March 12, 2003, Bob Lafleur wrote:
> I see that the seller backed off his opening price to an even $10,000. And
> there are still no bids. ... I *hate* to see him scrap it.

If it still ends with no bids, I can arrange a meeting with the seller to
see the machine, and while there, try to convince him not to scrap it.

-- 
Jeffrey Sharp

---

From: William Donzelli <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Mar 13 14:38:58 2003

> see the machine, and while there, try to convince him not to scrap it.

You may want to tell him the scrap value is not anything like $10,000. 
Four figures, but not five. And that is if he does the scrapping.

William Donzelli
[email-masked]

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From: ben franchuk <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Mar 13 14:39:09 2003

> Four figures, but not five. And that is if he does the scrapping.

So we need to pool 25 with $500 to buy a Univac.
I don't want to see it scrapped.
Ben.

---

From: William Donzelli <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Mar 13 14:39:20 2003

> So we need to pool 25 with $500 to buy a Univac.

Hmmm...I think trying to get *any* 25 of us together, and not have at 
least two folks with bullets/fists/flames flying, would be impossible!

William Donzelli
[email-masked]

---

From: Jeffrey Sharp <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Mar 13 14:39:54 2003

> So we need to pool 25 with $500 to buy a Univac.

Even if someone handed me the necessary money, I'm not sure how I could
handle the logistics. The easiest method of acquisition would be to acquire
the semi trailer as well, hitch it up, and haul it off without removing the
computer. But I can't drive a semi, and I don't know anyone who can or who
has a semi. Plus, my time may be too limited to engage in the affair.

-- 
Jeffrey Sharp

---

From: Roger Merchberger <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Mar 13 14:40:05 2003

>has a semi. Plus, my time may be too limited to engage in the affair.

Sure you do... I can drive one! Learned when I was 17. My dad's a trucker, 
so I learned early. You'd actually be suprised with the # of people who 
know how to drive a rig [ lorry, for the Brits here ;-) ]. Now, who may be 
licensed... that's another story. My dad doesn't have an encased van - he 
hauls heavy equipment so whatever he hauls has to be "weather-stabile" or 
tarped; neither of which would be compatible with the Univac, I would think.

This is a very rough guesstimate, but not counting possible permits or 
special packing/crating, you can expect to pay between 0.70 and 1.20 per 
mile... but that depends on a lot of stuff - if there are weight/time 
restrictions [cost goes up] but also - if it's a partial load, and the 
trucker can get another partial going to a similar place, the cost can go 
down...

You're best bet would be to contact a trucking agent and have them make the 
arrangements for you (including bidding out the load to the truckers). 
Dunno what their cut is, tho - I only learned about the "grunt work" aspect 
of the business. ;-)

If it's already crated/palletized, I would think it'd be easier to find 
whoever owns the trailer to drive it to a local loading bay, have the 
computer off-loaded, then loaded onto the "relocating" trailer. Otherwise, 
you may have to pay for "dead-head" miles - If the trucker uses his truck 
to haul the other trailer, chances are he may not take the chance of 
getting another partial going the same way (if he doesn't own the 
trailer... weird insurance stuff) and a lot slimmer chances of him getting 
another load back to get his trailer, so you'll prolly be liable for a 
round trip, which gets $$$ a lot quicker...

-- And you may want to put in the bid that the trucker should have a rig 
with a sleeping cab - otherwise, you may get stuck with motel bills. 
(AFAIK, most trucking agents would know if you'd get zinged with that ahead 
of time...)

Hope that give a bit o'insight to the sordid realm of a "Commodity 
Relocator..." ;-)

Laterz,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger

---

From: Vintage Computer Festival <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Mar 13 14:40:17 2003

> see the machine, and while there, try to convince him not to scrap it.

He's had it for years now.  I doubt he's going to scrap it.

Michael Nadeau brought to attention the fact that the seller was featured
in Chapter 7 of Kevin Stumpf's book on collecting computers.  He detailed
the back in 1997 how he tried to buy the machine from the seller but even
had a problem back then.

This guy will hold onto it until someone offers him twice what he thinks
he can get.

-- 

Sellam Ismail                                        Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger                http://www.vintage.org

 * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

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From: "Sipke de Wal" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Mar 13 14:40:27 2003

Hmmm, even noncooperative sellers eventually die.
I'd be on the lookout for his beneficiairies .....

Sipke de Wal
--------------------------------------------
http://xgistor.ath.cx
--------------------------------------------

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From: "Wayne M. Smith" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Mar 13 14:40:38 2003

> > > I see that the seller backed off his opening price to an even 
> > > $10,000. And there are still no bids. ... I *hate* to see 
> him scrap 
> > > it.
> >
> > If it still ends with no bids, I can arrange a meeting with 
> the seller 
> > to see the machine, and while there, try to convince him 
> not to scrap 
> > it.
> 
> Michael Nadeau brought to attention the fact that the seller 
> was featured in Chapter 7 of Kevin Stumpf's book on 
> collecting computers.  He detailed the back in 1997 how he 
> tried to buy the machine from the seller but even had a 
> problem back then.
> 
> This guy will hold onto it until someone offers him twice 
> what he thinks he can get.
> 
> -- 
> 
> Sellam Ismail                                        Vintage 
> Computer Festival

He apparently tried to trade it for an antique car back in '96. See:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=DyHI
n5.ML2%40iglou.com&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fq%3D%2522univac%2B3%2522%26hl%3
Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26scoring%3Dd%26selm%3DDyHIn5.ML2%
2540iglou.com%26rnum%3D1

---

From: "TeoZ" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Mar 13 14:40:49 2003

Why didnt this guy sell the machine during the ".com" bubble when everybody
was stock rich and were buying vintage equipment like crazy?

This guy was sitting on a Rolls Royce during the 20's and decides to sell it
after the market crash.. not very smart.

If this guy kicks the bucket you know the machine will end up in the scrap
yard.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sipke de Wal" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 3:02 AM
Subject: Re: Univac III on Ebay

> I'd be on the lookout for his beneficiairies .....
$10,000. And

---

From: "Hans Franke" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Mar 13 14:41:44 2003

> licensed... that's another story.

Well, I guess my german military lizence will not be recogniced in the US.
Although, it would be fun to haul a Univac across the states...

Gruss
H.

--
VCF Europa 4.0 am 03./04. Mai 2003 in Muenchen
http://www.vcfe.org/

---

From: "Bob Lafleur" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Mar 13 14:41:59 2003

You're forgetting that (per the auction) even if you purchase the
trailer, it is not driveable as is; it needs tires and other work. Not
so simple as to just hitch it up and go...

-----Original Message-----
From: [email-masked] [mailto:[email-masked]]
On Behalf Of Jeffrey Sharp
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 12:32 AM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: Univac III on Ebay

On Wednesday, March 12, 2003, ben franchuk wrote:
>> You may want to tell him the scrap value is not anything like 
>> $10,000. Four figures, but not five. And that is if he does the 
>> scrapping.
>

Even if someone handed me the necessary money, I'm not sure how I could
handle the logistics. The easiest method of acquisition would be to
acquire the semi trailer as well, hitch it up, and haul it off without
removing the computer. But I can't drive a semi, and I don't know anyone
who can or who has a semi. Plus, my time may be too limited to engage in
the affair.

-- 
Jeffrey Sharp

---

From: "John Allain" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Mar 13 14:42:10 2003

> http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=
> UTF-8&threadm=DyHIn5.ML2%40iglou.com&rnum=1&prev
> =/groups%3Fq%3D%2522univac%2B3%2522%26hl%3De
> n%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26scorin
> g%3Dd%26selm%3DDyHIn5.ML2%2540iglou.com%26rnu
> m%3D1

FYI Here's a simpler link to the same article:
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=[email-masked]

John A.
THX to everybody doing the research.

---

From: Mail List <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu Mar 13 14:43:06 2003

I knew of a truck driver ( I say knew because I haven't been in contact with
them in a while ) that hauled boats, I believe in the Ohio to Florida route 
if I
remember correctly. I think he drove the tractor back without the trailer
sometimes. They wanted me and a friend of mine to pick up some surplus
stuff for them in the past, and there was some talk on their end of hauling
stuff in return for picking up their stuff. I'm really not sure how 
reliable it all
was. I never wanted to get in the position of depending on it and then
finding out it wasn't getting done. My friend did pick up some of their stuff
up north with his permanently rented 24' Ryder and had it at his warehouse
for a while. They also picked up some of his stuff in areas where they were
going to. Eventually they showed up to get their stuff from my friend, but I'm
not sure they ever brought him his stuff? Anyway, if you all want to get it, I
could check to see if they wanted to hitch up and haul your trailer for you.
If you let him keep the trailer, that might motivate him? Or covering his fuel?
It would probably take someone out in the country with some space and
zoning permission to either park the trailer, or someone with a building along
that corridor that could off load and store the system. I doubt, on what I've
sometimes heard called a "gypsy load", they would want to detour too far
off their pre-established routes.