Ramblin' Wreck

The Ramblin' Wreck with cheerleaders and Buzz at a football game against Samford in 2007
Six women, wearing a uniform of a white skirt and a white and gold cropped top with the word "Tech" on the front, ride onto the football field on the running boards and rear seat of a white-and-gold-painted antique car.
The Ramblin' Reck leading the Yellow Jackets onto the field against Maryland in 2006

The Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech is the 1930 Ford Model A Sport coupe that serves as the official mascot of the student body at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The Wreck is present at all major sporting events and student body functions. Its most noticeable role is leading the football team into Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field, a duty which the Reck has performed since 1961. The Ramblin' Reck is mechanically and financially maintained on campus by students in Ramblin' Reck Club.

The first mechanical Reck was a 1914 Ford Model T owned by Dean Floyd Field. Until the current Reck was donated to the school in 1961, most of the early Ramblin' Recks were owned by students, faculty or alumni. The modern Reck has donned a number of different paint jobs and has had several restorations and modifications made to it. These changes were made by various individuals and organizations over the years, including Bobby Dodd and Georgia Tech Alumnus Pete George, who worked at the Ford plant in Hapeville, Georgia. The upkeep of the Reck has been the sole responsibility of Ramblin' Reck Club and the Reck driver since 1968.[1]

The Ramblin' Reck has been the target of several pranks perpetrated by rival schools; the University of Tennessee once provided the Reck with an unsolicited new paint job, and the University of Georgia has stolen the Reck on at least two occasions. Several replica or "false" Recks are owned by alumni, or are used for display and do not run. The official Ramblin' Reck is considered the only "true" Reck, and no backups or replacements exist.

  1. ^ "Reck Drivers | Ramblin' Reck Club". www.reckclub.org.gatech.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-24.