We didn't use the phrase "off road" because we never went "off road." We just had roads around us shitty enough that you needed 4 low and 33s to get up them. That's generally the attitude of the sport; there's plenty of goofing around on-trail to be done such that you don't need to go out and destroy the environment for everyone. Basically I've always seen jeeping as a utility to make your hikes shorter.

The TR-7 (my dad called it "the road toad") sucked ass on-trail. That's because 17-year-old me improved its ground clearance with add-a-leafs while also reducing the chassis weight by over a thousand pounds. As such, it effectively had no suspension. It also had a Holley 4011 (I built it the one year you could actually buy one) because spread-bore makes so much more sense than square bore and the only aftermarket spread bore carb you could buy other than a 4011 was a Carter AFB and nobody with any sense runs those. Anyway, the main problem with a 4011 for off-roading is they have a really sloppy splashy float bowl and going over speed bumps would stall it out because the fuel would all jump out of the jets.

Man that carb was a piece of shit.

Dumb thing is I haven't done any hotrodding in 20 years and the parts are the same, the players are the same... it's almost like my generation was the last generation to put a 350 in anything.