I don't think we have to go back to carbs with manual chokes (not that it was all that bad anyways), but frankly an electronic TBI like GM put on the very last generation I small block Chevy engines (with wasted spark ignitions instead of a distributor) would have been a good place to stop (as they're dead simple to work on and program unlike a lot of newer FI setups, and overcome the major problems with carbs like needing altitude and temperature compensation).