Ciprian Florea
7,286 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.
1969 Dodge Charger R/T Garage Find Flaunts Triple-Green Suit, Stripe-Delete Option
19 Feb 2024, 14:34 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1966, the Dodge Charger moved 37,344 units in its first year in showrooms. The following year, however, sales slumped to just 15,788 examples. This prompted Dodge to redesign the Charger, giving it a sportier look and a more mundane i...
This Onboard Footage of a Porsche 908/3 Racing up a Mountain Pass Will Make Your Day
19 Feb 2024, 10:53 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / What's the first car you think of when seeing a Porsche badge? If it's the 911, that's perfectly normal. Well, I usually think about race cars because Porsche built quite a few unforgettable track beasts. I'm obviously talkin...
1974 Dodge Charger Parked for 40 Years Emerges With Rare Factory Sunroof
18 Feb 2024, 19:27 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1966, the original Dodge Charger remained in production through 1978. Dodge produced four different generations, all with unique characteristics in terms of design and performance. The first-generation version arrived as a high-per...
Rare 1967 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Hidden for 46 Years Emerges With Rebuilt 302 V8
17 Feb 2024, 14:04 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced for the 1967 model year, the Chevrolet Camaro was more than two years late to the emerging pony car market. But that didn't stop it from becoming a popular rig. With nearly 221,000 units delivered, the 1967 Camaro was outsold by the...
1968 Plymouth Road Runner Hides Numbers-Matching Gear Under Flawless Avocado Green Body
16 Feb 2024, 17:52 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / In 1967, Plymouth offered no fewer than three midsize cars with high-performance engines. The lineup included the bread-and-butter Belvedere, the slightly fancier Satellite, and the premium GTX. But this didn't stop the brand from adding a fou...
Golden-Plated 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Pays Tribute to GM's 50 Millionth Car
16 Feb 2024, 16:08 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Gold-plated trim may be the type of bling you'd expect to see on a rapper's car, but automakers actually did it long before hip-hop music became a thing in the 1970s. And I'm not only talking about luxurious cars built for kings in t...
1931 Ford Truck Abandoned for 75 Years Looks Hopeless, Engine Agrees To Run
16 Feb 2024, 13:22 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / How long is too long for a classic vehicle to sit without a sip of gasoline? Well, the average "Will it run?" video suggests most engines spring back to life with little work after 20 or even 30 years. However, this 1931 Ford Model AA rev...
Forget About the Ford Model B, This 1934 Hudson Terraplane Is Drop-Dead Gorgeous
15 Feb 2024, 19:48 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to affordable vehicles from the 1930s, the Ford Model B is regarded as one of the most beautiful. It's a classic I'd definitely park it in my garage, especially in two-door coupe or roadster form. However, I'd choose th...
J-Code 1968 Ford Mustang GT Is a One-Year Survivor in Need of TLC
15 Feb 2024, 16:16 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / 1968 was a big year for the Ford Mustang. The pony car got a mild visual upgrade and spawned two regional models, the California Special and the High Country Special. More importantly, 1968 saw the introduction of two brand-new engine. The 428-c...
Triple-Green 1972 Plymouth Barracuda Doesn't Need a HEMI To Shine
15 Feb 2024, 13:46 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Although it doesn't get much credit, the Plymouth Barracuda pioneered the pony car segment alongside the Ford Mustang. The Mopar actually debuted two weeks before the Mustang, but it was nowhere near as popular. In the shortened 1964 model yea...
White 1966 Dodge HEMI Charger Is the Perfect Sleeper, Wants a Loving Home
14 Feb 2024, 21:40 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in early 1966 as the new "Leader of the Dodge Rebellion," the Charger was unlike any other vehicle the company had previously offered. While it was based on the Coronet, it looked nothing like Dodge's bread-and-butter mids...
Not Your Grandma's Grocery-Getter: Unassuming 1967 Chevrolet Bel Air Wagon Runs 9s
14 Feb 2024, 14:37 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / I like drag racing for many reasons, but there's one thing that raises above the rest. You can show up with just about anything at the drag strip. And this 1967 Chevrolet Bel Air wagon is proof you can tackle the quarter-mile with any type of ...
This Ford Model T Snowmobile Is So Ridiculous It's Actually Cool
14 Feb 2024, 12:17 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1908, the Ford Model T revolutionized the automobile industry. Not only was it the first affordable and mass-produced car, it was also a rugged and highly versatile vehicle. And it has a 19-year production run with more than 15 millio...
Spectacular 1969 AMC AMX Restomod Rocks 600+ Horsepower and Porsche 911 Paint
13 Feb 2024, 19:26 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / American Motors Corporation (AMC) was formed in 1954 by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Company. It was the largest corporate merger in US history at the time. AMC went into the history books in 1988 when it was purchased...
World's Only 1971 Dodge Charger R/T in Panther Pink Is a Stunning Muscle Car
13 Feb 2024, 17:27 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced for the 1966 model year, the Dodge Charger started life as a fancied-up fastback. However, the initial configuration didn't last long due to slow sales. In 1968, Dodge gave the Charger a significant makeover and transformed it into ...
1954 Packard Caribbean With 33K Miles Is a Rare Stunner Looking for a New Home
12 Feb 2024, 16:48 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / America's leading luxury car manufacturer before World War II, Packard, had fallen behind the Big Three in the late 1940s. By the early 1950s, its products were perceived as old-fashioned. In an effort to change that image, Packard designed th...
This 1960 Ford Starliner Is a One-Year Gem in Yosemite Yellow
12 Feb 2024, 14:28 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The 1960 model year brought a few notable changes to Ford's automobile lineup. The company gave its full-size lineup a significant makeover and introduced its first compact car, the Falcon. The full-size range also gained an additional trim le...
1971 Dodge Challenger R/T Found in a Backyard Comes With Two Engines, Quirky Features
12 Feb 2024, 12:55 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced for the 1970 model year, the Dodge Challenger was the last Mopar to join the muscle car segment. And needless to say, it arrived a bit late to the party because Chrysler discontinued its high-compression, big-block V8 engines in 1971. Bu...
1962 Pontiac Bonneville Limo Hidden for Decades May Be the Last of Its Kind
11 Feb 2024, 16:32 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / First used in 1954 on a GM Motorama concept car based on the Chevrolet Corvette, the Bonneville name found its way on a production model in 1957. It was a highly expensive convertible that cost almost as much as a Cadillac. Pontiac turned the Bonne...
Rare 1956 Hudson Hornet Barn Find Emerges With Continental Kit and Packard V8
10 Feb 2024, 15:59 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced for the 1951 model year, the Hudson Hornet is arguably one of the most iconic classic cars built by an independent automaker. Based on the company's innovative "step-down" chassis, the Hudson emerged as a sleek automobile ...