It seems that George III of England was having difficulty collecting taxes, especially from the provinces. So he figured he'd take one of those old English torture racks, put it on wheels and have horses pull it out to the provinces as a warning. But the rack was too heavy for horses to pull, so an elephant was provided. Of course, the elephant had to be escorted by a special keeper.
As the strange vehicle moved through the streets of London, one peasant asked another, "What on Earth is that?"
"Don't you know?" the other replied. "That's a ramblin' rack for George's tax and an elephant engineer."
A longer version closer to what DH told me is here.
Speaking of which, if any passing Georgia Tech grads know of a good cross-stitch or blackwork chart for the Ramblin' Wreck, please let me know! I've done Tech Tower and the Seal for DH but I would love to do the Wreck as well. Maybe I'll get ambitious and do up my own.
Italy 2004
Germany 2005
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