Ramblin' Wreck

Since 1961 the Rambling Wreck car has led the Georgia Tech football team onto the field prior to every game in Bobby Dodd Stadium. The Wreck is currently maintained and operated by the Ramblin' Reck Club, which is a prestigious student organization on campus with exclusive driving and maintenance privileges to the Wreck.

History

The below is excerpted from a history of the Ramblin' Wreck attributed to Preston Stevens, "The Ramblin Wrech from Georgia Tech" (1991)

The term "Ramblin' wreck" and its variations (1) go so far back in time that it could not possibly be related to a car. Cars at that time were only a dream. There is a respected source that states the term was first used in 1890. In this seminal happening, a student is said to have adapted an old drinking song with new words to cheer on the Tech baseball team against perennial rival, the University of Georgia. Another source has it that the song was sung during travel to and from a game at Auburn in 1892. Perhaps equally respected is the legend (2) that South American residents were charmed and probably amused by inventive Georgia Tech alumni who came to that continent to seek their fortunes early in this century. The gadgetry and vehicles contrived by a group of these young engineers to outwit the jungle were dubbed "ramblin' wrecks" by onlookers. The Ramblin' Wreck was publicly referenced by the student newspaper, The Technique, in 1927, when it talked about a 1914 Ford owned by Dean Floyd Field. The vehicle was referred as "Floyd's Flubber."

When Jim Dull, Assoc. Dean of Students and the Ramblin' Reck club decided they wanted a sporty old car for a mascot, the odds were it would turn out to be a Ford. Aside from the continued enormous popularity of the Model T and Model A, there was also ample precedent for that marque in the life of the school. For instance, the beloved Dean Floyd Field had clung to his 1914 Ford until 1928, finally disposing of it after much goading by the students.

At about this same time, the paper announced an "old Ford race" to Athens, Georgia and back, which was soon broadened to an "old-car race" for worn out cars only. In 1932, the race was transferred, by an apprehensive administration, to the Tech campus and converted to a parade.- This was the first official "Ramblin' Wreck" parade and has since become an annual tradition during homecoming week. From the worn out runners of the ill-fated Athens race, the cars quickly evolved into contraptions almost unrecognizable as automobiles. According to old photographs and witnesses, Ford was still the dominant marque in the annual Ramblin' Wreck parade, and would be so for years to come.

Given this background, Dull and his crew started their search for just the right car. Want ads were placed and the good-old-boy network was tapped, but nothing appropriate turned up. Then, by coincidence, the car destined to become the "Wreck" was found parked in front of Dean Dull's apartment on campus: 1930 Model A sport coupe.

The driver, Craig Johnson from Florida State University, was competing at the track meet down the street. When he came to claim his vehicle, he was warmly escorted into the Dull residence. Johnson and his father, Ted, had just completed its restoration in a somewhat unusual way. Ted, a Delta Airlines pilot, was able to fetch needed parts from around the hemisphere. For instance, the wood frame and top bows were replaced with Venezuelan Mahogany and the floor became an aluminum section used in airliners. Johnson had found this car rusting in an Atlanta junkyard. After long negotiations which began as horse trading and ended with begging, Jim Dull and renowned Tech coach Bobby Dodd committed the athletic association to buy the Ford for $1000. Later on, the Johnson's refunded the money and attained donor status.

It was planned that at each home football game and a few select others, the Ramblin' Wreck would burst onto the field leading the team and cheerleader amid much honking and engine-racing. For the past thirty years, the Wreck has done exactly this and more. Always present at rallys, graduations and school milestones (and even available for weddings), the little Model A has scaled the summit which was once the sole territory of Tech's other mascot, the Yellow Jacket, one of the best known symbols in all of academia. The road was not without potholes. The car has been shot once (at an Auburn game), painted orange (courtesy of Tennessee) and stolen twice (the University of Georgia is suspected). Just plain wear and tear also has taken its toll. What better place could an ailing Model A go to recuperate than the local Ford assembly plant with its Tech alumnus general manager, Pete George.

Upon invitation by George and Ford Motor Company, the car has been regularly maintained and face-lifted. In 1974, a new paint job in the school's colors was performed (selected by coach Dodd directly from the Lincoln paint chart). Ford also reinforced the running boards and fender support system to counter the inevitable piling on of cheerleaders and fans. Recently retired, George exercises great modesty about the possible cost, but he and Ford have put untold numbers of dollars and man hours into its upkeep. In 1983, well in time for the school's 1985 centennial celebration, Ford took the car apart completely and gave it a ground-up rejuvenation.

The following year, George and Ford teamed up again to restore an identical car found in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. A casual visitor to the Ford assembly plant would have done a double take as the body made its way down the rustproofing and paint lines sandwiched between 1984 Thunderbirds and Cougars. George and Company donated this centennial car and a custom-built trailer to the school. The car was raffled off and generated $250,000 for the Alexander Tharpe Fund, Inc. Knowing the Ford from the inside out, Pete George subsequently went to the winner and bought the Wreck for himself.

The earliest published version of the song was titled The Ramblin' Wreck and it appeared in a program of the school's cheers and fight songs possibly around 1910. We know the song has always been riddled with the words "hell" and "helluva" and this early printing was a piece of typographical swiss cheese. The campus bluenoses simply would not allow those words. In a footnote, the editor intimated that certain words were too hot to print. Lyrics to the song are located on Wikipedia under "Ramblin Wreck from Georgia Tech"

Footnotes: (1) The term "Ramblin' Wreck" has been printed with several spelling variations rather indiscriminately for possibly a century. In a recent football program, the spelling of the song title I'm A Rambling Wreck, disagreed with the spelling in the body of the song. We have found the following alternatives in campus and local publications over an approximately 70-year period: Ramblin' Wreck, Rambling Wreck, Ramblin' Reck and Ramblin' 'Reck. "Ramblin' wreck" is our choice for an official name. However, there is a notable exception: the Ramblin' Reck Club. During its 30-year-plus history, the Club has been consistent in omitting the "W" in Wreck. The club is custodian of the Wreck, or Reck as they would say, but we have kept the "W" except when using the club's name. (2) The legendary guru of the Industrial Management School, the late professor Fred Wynn, passed this lore on to Dean Jim Dull. We like it because it is an early connection between song and machine, a connection most necessary to this article.