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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 Wreck has performed since 1961. The Ramblin' Wreck is mechanically and financially maintained on campus by students in Ramblin' Reck Club. The first mechanical Wreck was a 1914 Ford Model T owned by Dean Floyd Field. Until the current Wreck was donated to the school in 1961, most of the early Ramblin' Wrecks were owned by students, faculty or alumni. The modern Wreck 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 a Georgia Tech Alum at the Ford plant in Hapeville, Georgia. The upkeep of the Wreck has been the sole responsibility of Ramblin' Reck Club and the Wreck driver since 1987. The Ramblin' Wreck has been the target of several pranks perpetrated by rival schools; the University of Tennessee once provided the Wreck with an unsolicited new paint job, and the University of Georgia has stolen the Wreck on at least two occasions. Several replica or "false" Wrecks are owned by alumni, or are used for display and do not run. The official Ramblin' Wreck is considered the only "true" Wreck, and no backups or replacements exist. == History == The term "Ramblin' Wreck" has been used to refer to students and alumni of Georgia Tech much longer than the car that now bears the name has been in existence. The expression has its origins in the late 19th century and was used originally to refer to the makeshift motorized vehicles constructed by Georgia Tech engineers employed in projects in the jungles of Central America. The Wrecks were constructed from whatever the engineers could find—mostly old tractor and automotive parts—and were kept running by the engineers' ingenuity and creativity. Other workers in the area began to refer to these vehicles and the men who drove them as "Rambling Wrecks from Georgia Tech."〔 The first "mechanical mascot" at Georgia Tech was a 1914 Ford Model T owned by Dean Floyd Field. Field drove the car to and from class every day from 1916 until 1928. Field cared so much for the car that he even nicknamed it "Nellie". The vehicle was distinguished by its metallic black paint job and a large black box fastened to the rear end by a buggy wheel hoop. The black box's contents were never revealed to the student body and the box became part of the mystique of the Old Ford. The student body initially nicknamed the vehicle "Floyd's Flivver" but eventually began to call the car the "Ramblin' 'Reck."〔 The first mention of Field's Ford as a ''Ramblin' 'Reck'' was in 1926 when he performed an overhaul of the car's motor, body, and paint job with the help of the campus machine shop. Dean Field found a love for travel with his Model T.〔 He took it all the way to California for seminars on mathematics and education.〔 However, in 1927 rumors began to abound campus that Field was going to buy a Model A. Field quelled the rumors with a personal interview in the last issue of the 1927 ''Technique''. By September 1928, Field felt he could not travel as much with the dilapidated Model T. To the dismay of the student body the vehicle was discarded by Dean Field in 1928 and a Model A was purchased. Field's Model A lasted until 1934 in which he bought a Ford V8. He would drive over in all three cars during his Georgia Tech tenure of 1900–1945.〔 In memoriam to his retired "Tin Lizzie", Dean Field started "an Old Ford Race" from the intersection of North Avenue and Techwood Drive in Atlanta to the intersection of Hills Street and Prince Avenue in Athens. The race was sponsored by the ''Technique'', which nicknamed the event the "Flying Flivver Race." The finish line was facilitated by the University of Georgia student newspaper ''The Red and Black''. The only rule of the race was that the car had to be a pre-1926 4-cylinder motor car.〔 The fastest time in the race was achieved by an Essex which completed the 79-mile (126 km) race in 1 hour and 26 minutes or 55 mph (88 km/h). The Tech administration disliked the perilous race and reduced the race to a more peaceful and regulated parade of contraptions known as the Ramblin' Wreck Parade after races were completed in 1929 and 1930. The Yellow Jacket Club facilitated the first official Ramblin' Wreck parade in 1932. The only break in the parade's continuous operation occurred with the onset of World War II. There were no parades from 1942–1943 and when the parade did continue in 1944, all wrecks had to be human powered. In 1946, the Ramblin' Wreck Parade was allowed to operate combustion engines again.〔 The rules instituted in the 1946 Wreck Parade still remain as the parade has become the featured event for all Tech homecomings. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ramblin' Wreck」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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