You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

[Lee Stewart]

My friend Al and I drove down to Miami on Xmas break (1968-1969) from Boston in Al's 1969 SS 396 Chevelle where we were at Babson College. 10 day road trip; 2 days to get to Miami, 6 days of sun and fun and 2 days to get back to college. Al's girlfriend was vacationing in Miami from school with a girlfriend and had promised Al she would put us up in her room.

After a straight through drive we get to within 10 miles of Miami when the Chevelle starts to overheat. We immediately pull into a local Chevrolet dealer - we had left the Turnpike about 20 miles ago and were traveling on A1A for a change of pace. The water pump had failed, but Al's car is still under warranty so it's just an hour out of our schedule to get it fixed. While waiting for the repair to be completed, I walked over to the Plymouth dealer next door to look around and spot this 1969 GTX sitting in the entrance of the Service Department with two guys standing next to it. I commented on how nice the car looked and asked why they were there. The owner of the car says to me, "we are headed to Miami on a road trip from college when the water pump failed." I start laughing and the guy looks at me and says, "you think that's funny?" So I replied, "yeah, I do. Take a short walk with me." So we walk over to the Chevy dealer and I introduce them to Al and explain why we are there. Everyone starts laughing.

So for the next 3 days we spent all our time with the guys with the GTX and with the girls that Al knows. It is interesting to note that we never street raced the GTX and there were plenty of times we took both cars to dinner, the beach, the movies, etc.

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

Built for NHRA's Stock/Super Stock (C/SA NHRA Stock Class or SS/GA NHRA Super Stock Class). It is interesting that Dodge picked the upscale GTS for the installation of the 440 Magnum engine instead of the Swinger 340. Bucket seats were standard on the GTS and weighed more than a bench seat. The console was standard on the M code GTS. No power steering, no power brakes, no manual trans. 3 speed auto was standard with an 8.75 rear; standard 3.55 or optional 3.91. The cars were built by Hurst Performance not Dodge. Dodge shipped 383 GTS cars to Hurst where Hurst pulled the 383, installed a special K member, new motor mounts and the 440/375 HP engine plus new exhaust manifolds, oil pan and heat shielding made up the conversion. All cars were dealer ordered. The cost of the 440 engine option was $363.65. Because Dodge used the 383 GTS for the 440 option the sticker price was over $4000.

The 1969 M code GTS came about when in 1968 Mr. Norm took one of his 440 GSS Darts to Chrysler to show them the 440 would fit. Chrysler liked it so much, they offered it in 1969 as a factory option.

The car was great for straight line acceleration but handled very poorly due to the extra weight on the front end and the manual steering.

[Lee Stewart]

General Mills teamed up with Kraft’s Jet-Puffed to make actual Lucky Charms marshmallows! The bag is filled with red hearts, yellow stars, green clovers, and blue moons.

[Lee Stewart]

Do you recognize this fish? No? You have probably eaten it a number of times.

It's a Patagonian Toothfish. What? You say you have never eaten such a fish? Sure you have . . .

Chilean Sea Bass

[Lee Stewart]

You like Sushi? Have you eaten Uni before? You know it comes from Sea Urchin. But that was not their original name. It was Whore's Eggs

[Lee Stewart]

It's an Orange Roughy right? Yep. But that was not it's original name: Darwin's Slimehead. Guess a name change was definitely in order.

[Lee Stewart]

Crayfish right? Used to be called Mud Bugs

[Lee Stewart]

Red snapper is a luxury. The Pacific version is called "Rockfish," but can technically be marketed as uber-expensive and Atlantic-derived red snapper because, well, red snapper is still technically what it is. The former obviously has a different taste and feel, which means fish companies are sneaky when it comes to tricking consumers into thinking they're getting the version with better quality. Tsk, tsk.

[Lee Stewart]

Next time you go to the grocery store, head over to the produce section and ask if they have any Chinese Gooseberry. When they looked stumped, just ask where the Kiwis are.