The Go Devil Run

Vintage Jeeps hit the trail

- Verne Simons

We’ve spent countless hours modifying and building 4x4s to do hard off-road trails. For reasons that we might never know, it seems like bigger and “badder” is always better, but at the end of the day, most of the off-road trails around the country (and world) were created at a time when today’s trends of LS engines, 1-ton axles with Chromoly ’shafts, and 40-inch tires weren’t at all common if those parts existed at all. And, as it turns out, off-roading, trail riding, and backcountry exploring in old, small, period-correct early 4x4s is a ton of fun and an experience that everyone who loves off-roading should try. Sure, they are not fast, and sometimes you have to stack rocks, but, in general, old 4x4s, even in nearly stock form, are incredibly capable offroad. Plus, the obstacles get bigger and harder as your tires and rig gets smaller and less powerful.

This is how the Go-Devil Run (sometimes called the GDR) was formed, and the event was created from the mind of our pal Ian Liljeblad. Ian is a fun-loving guy who is an off-road fabricator and real estate agent by trade. Sure, selling houses is great, but Ian is also obsessed with wheeling nearly stock flat-fender Jeeps, and wheeling them hard.

Ian, knowing what a stock-ish flattie can do, and after enjoying some vintage pictures of a few vintage Jeep runs at Tierra Del Sol’s Desert Safari or over the Rubicon Trail—and maybe a vintage margarita—decided he should lead the charge for a modern-day trail run with a vintage vibe, only allowing (well, at least at the front of the group) Jeeps from the ’40s and ’50s with stock-sized tires and Go Devil engines.