Inside the Reck Garage
Look inside every piece of the Reck Garage from its machinery, artifacts of the Wreck’s history, and other features of the home of Tech’s mechanical mascot.
The Ramblin' Wreck Legacy
The original Ramblin’ Wreck car—a 1914 Model T driven by Dean Floyd Field in the 1920s—might have been aptly named, but today’s version is anything but. The painstakingly restored and maintained 1930 Model A Ford arrived on campus in 1961, and has led the football teams onto the gridiron ever since. While the Ramblin’ Wreck is used primarily for on-campus activities, it’s also made appearances for games in Denver, El Paso, Tex., and Jacksonville, Fla. To help fund its ongoing maintenance, it is also rented out for weddings and birthday parties. It’s occasionally been the target of pranksters. In 1963, University of Tennessee vandals splashed orange paint all over the car, and a small amount of orange paint still flecks the struts. The Wreck sustained more significant damage in the summer of 2007 when a trailer failed while it was being towed to a wedding. The good news?
The iconic vehicle was repaired in time to lead the football team out onto the field that fall. These days, Georgia Tech takes every precaution to ensure that the Wreck is safe and ready for the next century. “They’ve got it down to a science,” Living History Director Marilyn Somers says of the student-led Ramblin’ Reck Club. “They know how to handle it, and it’s always got somebody securing it.”
Facts about the Wreck:
- The car is a 1930 Ford Model A Sport Coupe
- It was donated to Georgia Tech in 1961 by Capt. Ted Johnson, a retired pilot who had purchased and restored the car for his son.
- Johnson was persuaded by Dean Jim Dull to first sell it and then later donate it to Georgia Tech as the official Ramblin’ Wreck.
- Maintained by the Ramblin’ Reck Club.
- Appears on the field at all home football games and other events as a symbol of Georgia Tech.
- Restored and painted gold and white by the Ford Motor Co. under the direction of alumnus Pete George, IE '44. A second Model A, purchased and restored by the Alumni Association in the 1980s, is used at alumni events
- A third automobile purchased and restored by the Georgia Tech Foundation is parked in the lobby of the Georgia Tech Hotel.
- Historically, with some exceptions (1961, 1963, 1965, 1984, 1988, 2000, and 2015), the Reck Club chooses one student to drive the car for a calendar year.
A Ramble Through Wreck History
Discover the history of Georgia Tech’s iconic Ramblin’ Wreck, from its 1960 junkyard origins and 1961 field debut to the student drivers and traditions that keep the 1930 Model A Ford rolling.
The Ramblin' Wreck Origin Story
In 1960, Georgia Tech’s Student Council was tasked with coming up with Tech’s first official mascot, the Ramblin’ Wreck.
Jack Purdy, BA 22
As early as the spring of 1960, football head Coach Bobby Dodd spoke to the sports editor of the Technique, John Walker, IE 61, about Tech’s need for a real mascot. While Tech had already donned nicknames such as the Golden Tornado, Engineers, Blacksmiths, and eventually Yellow Jackets, there was no physical representation of the primary nickname, the Ramblin’ Wreck. 
Support for a Ramblin’ Wreck mascot was voiced in the October 7, 1960 Technique.
That fall, the Student Council was charged by Dean of Students George Griffin, CE 1922, MS IM 57, to propose a mascot for the Institute. Multiple ideas were discussed, including building a mascot from scratch or building a contraption. By October, a group including Al Sydnor, ME 61, Dekle Rountree, IE 64, John Walker, Forrest Travis, ME 61, and others from student council pointed to a Georgia Tech book cover with a drawing of an old car on the back as inspiration. The book cover was a common item sold at the Georgia Tech College Inn (also known as “The Robbery”), Tech’s bookstore at the bottom of Tech Tower that operated from 1899-1970s. The group came to a consensus around the idea of a car being Tech’s official mascot.
At the Student Council meeting on Oct. 18, Walker made the motion to create a Ramblin Reck Committee to investigate the idea of the Ramblin’ Wreck vehicle mascot. It was seconded by Al Sydnor and Travis. The motion passed.
The next week at the Oct. 25 Student Council meeting, the committee, which included Sydnor, Rountree, and Forrest Travis, ME 61, confirmed they would search for a car. They had around $600 appropriated by Dean Griffin to find and acquire a mascot.
According to Sydnor, multiple cars were considered, but none fit the bill or were cheap enough for the committee to buy and restore.
Eventually, Dean of Students Jim Dull found the 1930 Ford Model A Sport Coupe that would become the Ramblin’ Wreck on campus.
When the Wreck first led the football team onto Grant Field on Sept. 30, 1961, the work started by Sydnor, Walker, and Rountree had come to fruition. At the end of the 1961 academic year, the Technique reported that “laying the groundwork for procuring a ‘Ramblin’ Reck’ as a Tech mascot” was a highlight of the Student Council’s accomplishments that year.
Behind-the-Scenes Stories From Wreck Drivers
Phil Gingery, Chem 65, 1963 Driver
When we got to Knoxville for the game against the University of Tennessee, we went directly to the stadium where there was a guard at the gate. He let us in, and we asked, “Is the car going to be safe overnight?” And he said, “Boys, don’t worry about it. It’s under lock and key.”
The next day, we returned, and there was orange paint on both sides of the Ramblin’ Wreck. We immediately found Coach Bobby Dodd and told him what happened.
I was so mad that we went to the UT athletic office. They said, “What the heck do you want us to do?” We kicked Tennessee’s butt and beat them. That was certainly some consolation. When we got back to Atlanta, we found out it was powdered paint and it buffed right off. Once it was thoroughly washed, it was as good as new.
Doug Chandler, IE 68, 1965 Driver
Two years before me, the car was left in a closed storage area in the stadium, but some students got in and painted it orange. So, I made sure that wasn’t going to happen to me when we played them again. I loaded the car into a U-Haul van, drove it up there myself, and spent the night in the U-Haul to make sure nothing was going to happen.
Ken Box, EE 76, 1975–76 Driver
We’re driving to Athens with the car in a truck when the truck breaks down. We coasted into a gas station, but we were still 4 or 5 miles out from the stadium. I called the Clarke County Sheriff’s Department, and they came out and gave me an escort. The officer said, “How fast will this thing go?” And I said, “It’ll go about 55 miles an hour.” He said, “You get right on my tail and don’t slow down.” We went blowing into Athens, the ooga horn going as we’re going into town.
Andy McNeil, PP 01, 2001 Driver
I’m at an event about 30 minutes south of Atlanta with some football players there. I’m taking players out for rides in the Wreck and one of the tires popped. We have a spare tire on the back, but I don’t have the jack because it’s in the trailer. The football players were like, “The car’s not that heavy, we’ll pick it up.” Sure enough, they held it off the ground while I changed the tire. They were basically the impromptu jacks.
Justin Barnes, Phys 03, 2003 Driver
A couple of days before my first ride out, I was driving and heard a bang. All of a sudden, I couldn’t shift. One of the gear teeth broke off and got wedged between the gear and the bell housing and cracked the bell housing.
I called Benny [Bentley’s Antique Auto Service] and got it towed to his shop. He worked on it overnight. I literally picked it up the morning of the game, trailered it back down to the stadium, and led the team onto the field.
Dustin Bergman, ME 05, 2004 Driver
We were getting the crowd hyped up before a game, and I jumped on one of the cheerleader’s backs. As I went to hop down, he was still holding my legs. I landed weird and dislocated my left kneecap. One of the trainers had to put my kneecap back with only 15 minutes before we were going to lead the team out on the field.
I can’t walk so I start calling all the drivers, and I reach Brian Waits. I was like, “Dude, I need you to drive for me. I can’t.” And so, he led the team out on the field for that game.
I got crutches and came back to the game. I drove it back over to the tunnel using the crutch to push in the clutch and ended up driving the team out for the second half.
Dustin Bergman, ME 05, 2004 Driver
When we made the Final Four in San Antonio, we had a news crew with us taking video of fans getting hyped seeing the Wreck. I said, “What would be great is if we got shots in front of the Alamo.”
We pull up to the Alamo and start taking pictures. I hadn’t gotten out of the car, when this agent comes over to the window with his gun unclipped, and says, “You’re not allowed to be here! You’re going to be under arrest if you don’t get out of here immediately!”
We pull over next to the Alamo. The camera guys come over and say, “We talked to them, and they said no.” I said, “Yeah, we found out.” Then, two agents come running up saying, “You’re under arrest.” Finally, the supervisor comes over and says, “Get this thing out of here. Never come back.” I said, “Yes, sir.”
Caption: The Wreck moments before security removed it from the Alamo. Photo courtesy Dustin Bergman.
Bryan Popka, CS 06, 2006 Driver
We used to have these pep rallies over at Atlantic Station the night before the game. After one rally, the Wreck just wouldn’t start. Eventually we realize it’s some sort of electrical problem. We towed it back to the garage and worked on it all night into the next morning. We had guys running up to Benny’s [Bentley’s Antique Auto Service] to buy parts.
Justin Barnes, Phys 03, 2003 Driver: We were exhausted. None of us had slept much at all. And we finally get it all back together, it’s not starting, and none of us can figure it out. All of a sudden, Andy McNeil goes, “Hey, wait! the polarity is switched!”
And we’re like, “Oh, you’re right!” We switched it and it worked.
Brandon Kearse, ME 08, MS CE 10, 2008 Driver
We were going to Dean Dull’s 80th birthday party. In my rush to get changed and throw on my suit, the keys to the Wreck stayed in my shorts in the garage. I did not realize it until I was unloading it in a Target parking lot near Dean Dull’s house.
Luckily Target had screwdrivers for sale. After a little bit, we just popped the ignition cap off and I had the Reck Club member who was with me hold together the two ignition wires to run the car.
For whatever reason, it wouldn’t run just by tapping the wires together. They had to hold the wires together the whole time. So, it was getting shorted for most of the trip. Dean Dull got a real crack out of me hotwiring the Wreck to drive him around for his 80th birthday.
Winfield Tufts, IE 10, 2009 Driver
It’s two hours before kickoff and the car won’t start. I can’t figure out why, so I call Chris Gaddis and we agree over the phone that it needs to be push-started.
The street we’re on is flat, and we’re not getting up to speed. The tailgaters at the house we’re at come, out realizing what’s going on. We try three or four times, but it’s not working. You can smell the gas in the air.
There was this moment when one of the people yells out, “Come on, guys, we can do this. Let’s go!” Everybody puts in their final absolute energy to push this thing across a flat road and we get up to speed enough to get it running. There was a huge cheer! We didn’t turn the car off until after the ride out.
Omar Khan, IE 24, 2023 Driver
It was Homecoming and Halloween weekend, so we made a costume for the Wreck to look like Buzz. In the design, I forgot that you probably shouldn’t cover the radiator. So, we were driving around with Buzz, who was one of my fraternity brothers. I remember saying, “Hey, do you see water droplets on the windshield? That’s kind of weird. It’s not raining at all.”
The temperature gauge is reading off the charts at over 240 degrees. I realize it’s condensation from the water boiling and that’s why the engine’s overheating. So, I drive to the garage and have Buzz holding a funnel as I pour all the coolant I can in. We go to the Wreck Parade and I’m still filling it up to see if I can get through the parade. President Cabrera saw me doing this and asked, “Is this going to be a problem?”
Ramblin’ Wreck FAQ
Where has the Wreck been stored on campus?
Originally in the 1960s, the car was kept near the athletics fields by Fowler Street. In the 1990s, the car was stored in a garage in the southwest corner of Bobby Dodd Stadium. Drivers back then had keys to get into the stadium and take the Wreck out as needed.
Starting in 2002, the Wreck was moved to a then-secret garage by McCamish Pavilion (at the time, the Alexander Memorial Coliseum). The garage was so small that aside from an oil change, the car had to be taken out of the garage for repairs.
In 2023, the Reck Garage was completed adjacent to the John Lewis Student Center, where the Wreck has parked ever since.
What repairs are most common?
One of the most common repairs on the Ramblin’ Wreck are with the vehicle’s carburetor, which mixes air with gas to insert it into the engine compartment. Drivers might have two or three spare carburetors in the garage. Other repairs involve electrical work or issues with the stuffing box, which is a piece underneath the radiator cap that holds the cap down. When the car drives at high speeds, the piece can come loose and spray water all over the windshield.
What are the criteria for becoming a Wreck driver and how are drivers selected?
The process has changed over the decades. In the 1960s, drivers were selected from the Ramblin’ Reck Committee before the car was turned over to the Ramblin’ Reck Club in 1968. From then on, drivers have been elected from within the ranks of the club.
Many aspiring drivers spend time with the current and previous drivers to learn how to drive and take care of the car. Drivers were often elected based on who could drive and maintain the car within the constraints of the Reck Club’s budget. As more resources have become available for Wreck maintenance, the criteria for selecting a Wreck driver has expanded beyond being able to drive the car. Today, candidates give a 7-minute speech to Reck Club members about their plans for the car.
Aside from football games, where else does the Wreck go?
To help pay for the maintenance and upkeep, the Wreck appears at weddings and private events around Atlanta and the state of Georgia. Since the Wreck driver is the sole person allowed to drive the car, they have discretion to decide which events the Wreck attends. Some have also taken it out on dates, for grocery store runs, or even driven it to church on a Sunday morning. Drivers often arrange their class schedules based on Wreck appearances, and it’s not uncommon for them to finish school in five years rather than four as a result. To request an appearance, visit https://reckclub.org/
A Dream Garage Comes True
Georgia Tech’s iconic mascot officially has a permanent home in the heart of campus. Explore how the new glass-walled Reck Garage showcases the 1930 Ford Model A while serving as a net-zero hub for campus traditions.
Wreck Downloadable Background
Download new backgrounds featuring the Ramblin’ Wreck at the Digital Fan Gear page!
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