The dehydrative condensation of methanol has attracted considerable attention as a route to high value-added fuels and chemicals, such as gasoline (MTG) and light olefins (MTO). A 1970s paper reported that heating methanol with zinc iodide gives a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, of which the highly-branched, high-octane paraffin 2,2,3-trimethylbutane (triptane) is the most abundant product. I will present the findings of an extensive series of mechanistic experiments aimed at understanding how the reaction takes place, why the selectivity to this particular product is so high (yields up to 20% based on carbon), how the yield might be further improved, and whether the chemistry can be extended to related, potentially useful transformations.