Ciprian Florea
7,285 ARTICLES
Personal motto:
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough horsepower." - Mark Donohue
You'll never catch him drooling over the latest supercar but he could spend hours talking about why he loves 1940s windshield visors, Mopars, and Studebakers. Naturally, most of his stories are about barn finds and rare classics.
He can give you several reasons why speed and power are more about motorsport than silly street wandering, and Can-Am machinery tops his ridiculously fast all-time favorite car list. He claims he could die happy after a Rattlesnake Raceway ride in a Chaparral and a cup of coffee with Jim Hall on the other side of the table.
Before landing on these pages, Ciprian's work has been published on outlets like TopSpeed, AmericanMuscle, and ThisWeekInMotors.
1958 Chevrolet Impala Has a Rare Option You Probably Never Knew Existed
28 Mar 2024, 12:37 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / One of Chevrolet's most iconic models, the Impala was born in 1958. Created as a special trim celebrating GM's 50th anniversary, the Impala slotted above the Bel Air, topping the company's full-size range. The nameplate sold 181,469 ...
Lot of Six Yellow Ford Pinto Wagons Shows People Will Collect Anything
27 Mar 2024, 22:11 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / If I were to have unlimited funds, I'd probably put together a collection of Plymouth Road Runners. One of each model year from 1968 through 1975. They'd look spectacular parked next to each other, but I wouldn't be the first guy to ...
Big Warehouse Is Packed With Iconic Muscle Cars, Rare 1970 Plymouth HEMI Cuda Included
27 Mar 2024, 15:22 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Discovering a classic car hidden in a barn is quite exciting, but it gets even better when someone stumbles into a big stash of vintage muscle cars. Especially when the said collection includes all NASCAR "aero warriors" and a 1970 Plymou...
Frozen 1943 GMC CCKW Comes Back to Life, Handles Snow Like a Champ
27 Mar 2024, 13:06 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to WW2 trucks, no American rig is more famous than the GMC CCKW. Built from 1941 to 1945 in more than a half-million units, this 2.5-ton 6x6 hauler saw heavy service in World War 2 and the Korean War (1950-1953). Although many of thes...
1961 Ford Econoline Truck Hides a Blasphemous Surprise Under the Hood
26 Mar 2024, 21:28 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced for the 1961 model year, the Econoline was Ford's first van. Designed to replace the F-Series-based panel truck, the Econoline was aimed at the popular Volkswagen Bus. The latter also prompted Chevrolet to launch the Greenbrier in 1...
1929 Ford Doodlebug Wannabe Spent 75 Years in a Yard, Engine Refuses To Die
26 Mar 2024, 13:35 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / How long is too long for a classic to be sitting in a junkyard or barn? Well, it depends on many factors, including weather conditions or whether it's been protected from the elements or not. However, while a steel vehicle could become a rust ...
Unassuming 1970 Ford Mustang Hides Rare Q-Code SCJ Setup Under Boss 302 Shell
26 Mar 2024, 11:02 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Muscle cars from the golden era are cool and all, but it all becomes much better when the said vehicle is an unassuming sleeper. This Grabber Blue 1970 Ford Mustang is definitely one of those rigs. If you know you're Mustangs, you're p...
This 1969 Plymouth Sport Fury Is a Two-Owner Survivor With Original Everything
25 Mar 2024, 16:09 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The term "survivor" gets thrown around a lot these days. What should be used to describe a time capsule is often attributed to vehicles with repainted bodies and rebuilt engines. Granted, those rigs are also survivors to a certain degree,...
Maserati Mistral Found in an Abandoned Junkyard Is a Rare Italian Gem
25 Mar 2024, 13:51 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Built from 1963 to 1970, the Maserati Mistral is a low-production grand tourer that spawned only 953 units. It's not as rare as some contemporary Ferraris, but it's not the kind of classic you'd expect to find in a junkyard. Yet one ...
Super Rare 1967 Pontiac 2+2 Convertible Neglected for 51 Years Is a Sad Sight
25 Mar 2024, 11:43 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Built from 1964 to 1967, the Pontiac 2+2 is largely forgotten nowadays. And that's not surprising, given that Pontiac was selling the GTO, Catalina, and Bonneville at the time. The 2+2 was simply overshadowed by long-running nameplates that ar...
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle LS5 Barn Find Emerges With Rare Color Combo and Ridiculous Price
24 Mar 2024, 21:19 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Launched in 1964 as Chevrolet's first midsize car, the Chevelle spawned several impressive rigs during the golden muscle car era. The jury is still out on which one is the coolest, but the SS 454 LS6 is impossible to beat when it comes to perf...
Born With a 440 V8, This 1969 Plymouth GTX Now Packs More Oomph Than a HEMI
23 Mar 2024, 16:53 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced for the 1967 model year, the GTX topped Plymouth's midsize car lineup until 1971. But it was more than just a fancied-up two-door Belvedere. The GTX was quite exclusive in the performance department, as engine options were restricte...
The Last 1970 Plymouth Superbird Built Is a Rare V-Code in Pristine Condition
22 Mar 2024, 15:57 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The golden muscle car era was packed with fantastic high-performance rigs, but none were as outlandish as Chrysler's "winged warriors." I'm obviously talking about the Dodge Charger Daytona and the Plymouth Superbird. The Day...
1949 Oldsmobile 88 Spent 40 Years off the Road, Legendary Rocket V8 Fires Up
22 Mar 2024, 13:45 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1949 as a slightly smaller and more affordable alternative to the 98, the Oldsmobile 88 remained in showrooms for a whopping 50 years. But the long production run isn't the only feat the 88 can brag about. It was Oldsmobile�...
Barn-Found 1964 Plymouth Fury Flaunts Super Stock Heritage, Max Wedge V8
22 Mar 2024, 11:59 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in production models for the 1966 model year, the 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) HEMI V8 is arguably the most iconic Chrysler engine from the golden muscle car era. However, it wasn't the company's first high-performance engin...
1970 Plymouth HEMI Cuda Has It All: Restored, Low Mileage, Numbers-Matching V8
21 Mar 2024, 17:49 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964, about two weeks before the Ford Mustang, the Plymouth Barracuda wasn't much of a performance car in its first years on the market. But that changed toward the end of the decade thanks to the 383- and 440-cubic-inch (6.3- an...
Porsche Carrera GT, Ferrari 575 Have Been Locked in This Chinese Dealership for 12 Years
21 Mar 2024, 13:06 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Back in 2020, a viral Instagram post revealed the story of a trio of supercars that had been sitting for years in an abandoned Chinese dealership. Four years have passed, and the exotic vehicles are still locked in the derelict building that once w...
1963 Dodge W200 Power Wagon With Numbers-Matching V8 Proudly Displays Battle Scars
20 Mar 2024, 12:36 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / One of Dodge's most iconic nameplates, the Power Wagon can be split into three distinct lines. First, we have the original one-ton hauler based on the company's WC-series military trucks. It arrived in 1945 and soldiered on through the 19...
Once a Rusty Barn Find, This 1958 Oldsmobile 98 Is Now a Mountain Haze Beauty
20 Mar 2024, 10:50 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / A pivotal decade for the American automobile industry, the 1950s saw the introduction of various innovations and a massive sales surge due to the post-WWII economic boom. In 1955, automobile deliveries reached an all-time high of 8.3 million, a 79%...
1955 Chevrolet 150 Packs Massive V8 With More Oomph Than a Challenger Demon
19 Mar 2024, 18:07 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1955, the Tri-Five was a very big deal for Chevrolet. A significant evolution over its predecessor, the Tri-Five was not only beautiful, but it also hit showrooms with Chevrolet's first V8 engine in decades. And it sold like hotc...