In my junior year at Tech (1965-66), I was a member of the Ramblin’ Reck Club and had responsibility for the Wreck. I will never forget my experience at Knoxville that year for the Tennessee football game.
The game was on national television, and it was hot. Close to 100 degrees at game time.
All went well for the pregame, and the traditional Wreck drive onto the field went as planned. At halftime, however, while sitting under the stands waiting for the team to get out of the locker room (televised games always had longer halftime breaks, I learned) the car started getting hot.
The team finally arrived, and we started onto the field. Alas, the car started to misfire and slow down. I thought for sure it was going to die on the field with a national TV audience watching and have to be pushed off.
Fortunately, the old Model A’s had a lever on the right side of the steering column that was in effect a spark advance (just like turning the distributor on later model cars). I quickly pushed the lever up as far as it would go, allowing the car to keep running and make it off the field.
To this day, I don’t think anyone knows this story other than my kids and close friends, but I will never forget the moment.
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