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.
1975 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Has an Identity Crisis, Thinks It's a Rolls-Royce
19 Mar 2024, 16:43 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / What do Chevrolet and Rolls-Royce have in common? Well, nothing much except for that time when the British used GM gearboxes a few decades ago. But at some point in the 1970s, someone blended the two to create a unique and quirky car. That person w...
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 Is a Highly Original Gem With One Little Secret
19 Mar 2024, 13:47 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964 as Chevrolet's first midsize car, the Chevelle quickly morphed into a very popular automobile. Produced over three generations through 1977, the Chevelle was also part of the muscle car wars, spawning potent versions like th...
Nine-Door 1974 Checker Aerobus Springs Back to Life After Years off the Road
18 Mar 2024, 21:02 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Whenever I hear the word limousine, I usually think about fancy stretched sedans or presidential vehicles. But needless to say, the term is not restricted to these types of cars. Any long-wheelbase rig can be a limousine as long as it was designed ...
Rare Barn Find: 1971 Dodge Challenger Convertible Emerges After 44 Years
18 Mar 2024, 17:13 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1970 on the then-new E-body platform (shared with the third-generation Plymouth Barracuda, the Dodge Challenger was met with enthusiasm and sold nearly 77,000 units. And almost a quarter of those rigs left the assembly line as high-pe...
Forgotten 1955 Chrysler New Yorker Is a Rare Wagon With Bad News Under the Hood
17 Mar 2024, 21:45 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / With just two vehicles in showrooms as of 2024, Chrysler is currently a shadow of its former self. Decades ago, it was one of the US luxury car market leaders and a company that brought many innovations to the streets. The New Yorker is part of tha...
Lime Gold 1967 Shelby Mustang GT350 Flexes Original Paint, Numbers-Matching Everything
16 Mar 2024, 19:43 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in April 1964, the Ford Mustang came standard with a six-cylinder engine rated at 105 horsepower. However, the options list included a couple of V8 units that put it into 200-horsepower territory. The range-topping 289-cubic-inch (4.7-li...
This 1959 Studebaker Scotsman 4x4 Pickup Is Rarer Than Hen's Teeth
15 Mar 2024, 16:48 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to 1950s pickup trucks, we usually think about Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge rigs. Because these were the most popular trucks at the time. However, the pickup market was quite diverse in the 1950s. Willys had entered the pickup busin...
Perfectly Restored 1970 Dodge Challenger Is a True HEMI R/T SE in Top Banana
15 Mar 2024, 14:38 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced for the 1970 model year, the Dodge Challenger was the last Mopar to join the muscle car wars. We could say it was a bit late to the party, but that didn't stop it from becoming an iconic figure of the golden era. Although smaller...
Family-Owned 1968 Chevrolet Corvette Is an All-Original Gem With a Rare Feature
14 Mar 2024, 11:35 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / 1968 was a tremendous year for muscle cars. Plymouth launched the Road Runner, while Dodge introduced its own take on the affordable performance car segment, the Super Bee. AMC debuted both the AMX and Javelin that year. 1968 also saw the introduct...
Unrestored 1966 Dodge Charger Hides Both Good and Bad News Under the Hood
13 Mar 2024, 16:13 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / One of the most iconic muscle cars ever built, the Dodge Charger arrived in early 1966. Initially a premium fastback aimed at the Rambler Marlin, the Charger gained a more aggressive appearance and a more mundane interior in 1968. Three years later...
Heirloom 1955 Chrysler Imperial Parked for 50 Years Is All-Original and Unrestored
13 Mar 2024, 13:52 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / As of 2024, Chrysler has discontinued no fewer than five automobile nameplates. Plymouth is arguably the most iconic, but the list also includes DeSoto, Imperial, Valiant, and Eagle. While Valiant and Eagle are pretty much forgotten, Imperial is on...
Barn-Found 1964 Jaguar Mark X Goes From Nasty to Gorgeous After First Wash in 40 Years
13 Mar 2024, 11:46 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Dragging classic cars out of long-term storage is often a lottery. You just can't tell if the vehicle is still sound under all that dust and dirt. Most of them are rusty and need complete restoration, but some emerge in surprisingly good condi...
The 1969 Ford Torino GPT Special Is Now the World's Most Expensive Talladega
12 Mar 2024, 17:19 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Built in 1969 for NASCAR homologation, the Talladega is arguably the most iconic iteration of the Torino nameplate. It's also a historically significant Ford. But despite all this and its limited-edition status (only 754 were produced), the Ta...
1970 Plymouth HEMI Superbird Parked for 48 Years Is Amazingly Original
12 Mar 2024, 16:07 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / In 1969, Dodge shocked the muscle car world with the Charger Daytona. Developed for NASCAR racing and put into production for homologation purposes, the Daytona featured a nose cone and a 23-inch-tall wing on the rear deck. It looked unlike any oth...
Sassy Grass 1971 Plymouth Road Runner Hides a Nasty Surprise Under the Hood
12 Mar 2024, 13:23 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1968 as Plymouth's most affordable muscle car, the Road Runner soldiered on through 1980. However, the nameplate lost its stand-alone model status in 1976 when it became a trim package for the Volare. And like all Mopars, the Roa...
Rare 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Pops Up for Sale, It's Worth a Fortune
11 Mar 2024, 18:33 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Built from 1962 to 1964, the 250 GTO is the most iconic and beautiful Ferrari ever built. It's also a rare classic and one of the most expensive vehicles ever auctioned. And I'm not talking about seven-figure sums that some muscle cars ca...
1960 Ford Sunliner With Rebuilt 390 and Continental Kit Is Ready for the Summer
11 Mar 2024, 16:22 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Most automakers market their drop-tops as convertibles or cabriolets. But it wasn't always like that. Decades ago, some carmakers opted to sell their retractable-top rigs with more creative names. Ford, for instance, used the Sunliner nameplat...
This 1970 Dodge HEMI Charger R/T SE Is a True One-of-One Canadian Gem
11 Mar 2024, 12:33 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to early 1970s Mopars, it doesn't get any better than a HEMI-powered rig, right? These cars are potent, rare, and very valuable. But certain features can turn a scarce classic into a one-of-one gem. What you see here is a 1970...
Seven-Figure Bargain? Holy-Grail 1967 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Sells for $1.65 Million
10 Mar 2024, 18:48 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Produced from 1963 to 1967, the second-generation Chevrolet Corvette took the world by storm with its sleek and aggressive yet beautiful design. Unsurprisingly, it's considered by many to be the prettiest Corvette ever made. But the C2 is much...
10 Dodge Nameplates You Probably Never Knew Existed
10 Mar 2024, 13:21 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Established as the Dodge Brothers Company in 1900, Dodge was originally a supplier of parts and assemblies to Detroit-based automakers. The firm began making automobiles in 1914 and became part of the Chrysler Corporation in 1928. It has since beco...