Family Scrambler

This ’84 Jeep CJ-8 was built for fun on the trail

Stuart A. Bourdon

Interesting stories are a big part of the Dirt ’N Drive experience. The 2019 Jp Dirt ’N Drive Presented by Jeep was filled with tales of great trails, cool Jeeps, beautiful scenery, and good times. Among the many Jeeps that sparked a good deal of interest was the very clean and quite capable 1984 CJ-8 Scrambler owned by Aaron and Syble Paris. The Jeep had an unassuming appearance at a glance, which upon deeper examination revealed an adventurous personality. Built over a period of four years, most of the work, “except things like rebuilding the transmission,” was done by Aaron and his brother-in-law Brent. The engineer admitted, “Before this, I didn’t know much about Jeeps.”

Aaron had considered a JK but realized he had no idea how to fix it in the middle of nowhere, so when a CJ-8 came up for sale at a price he could live with, the deal was done and the project was on. A smart guy who learns quickly, Aaron knew there was a lot of work ahead, but he took it one step at a time and just kept going. Aaron said that looking back, he should have just replaced the entire frame right off the bat. The Ohio-based vehicle needed a number of reinforcement plates welded on; in the end, it was quite hard to repair and likely more expensive than a new frame.