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.
Perfectly Restored 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS Flaunts Rare Factory Option
29 Jan 2024, 15:33 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The Chevrolet Chevelle debuted in 1963 as the company's first competitor in the emerging midsize market. And while it became GM's bread-and-butter intermediate, it also became a part of the muscle car wars. Chevrolet launched a beefed-...
This Hoard of Derelict Mopars Is Loaded With Rare HEMI Cars
29 Jan 2024, 13:12 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / A few days ago, I showed you a big stash of derelict E-body Mopars packed with rare HEMI cars. Well, new footage from the property hit the internet, showing an additional hoard of Plymouths and Dodges from the golden muscle car era. In addition to ...
1969 Chevrolet Chevelle Is a Yenko Trickster With a Nasty V8 Under the Hood
28 Jan 2024, 15:38 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Chevrolet's first midsize offering, the Chevelle arrived in late 1963 as a competitor for the Fairlane, which Ford downsized in 1962. And it quickly became one of Chevrolet's best-selling nameplates. But like most midsize vehicles of the ...
1970 Plymouth 'Cuda Survivor Flexes Rare HEMI Setup and Extremely Low Mileage
28 Jan 2024, 12:12 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to classic cars, everything with fewer than 50,000 miles (80,467 km) on the odo is labeled as a low-mileage rig nowadays. But believe it or not, some vehicles soldiered for decades with fewer than 10,000 miles (16,093 km) on the clock...
1968 Shelby Mustang GT500 Has the Full Package: Rare, Unrestored, Numbers-Matching
27 Jan 2024, 18:39 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964 as an affordable pony car with mild performance, the Ford Mustang developed into a fully-fledged muscle car by the end of the decade. The transformation began in 1965 when Ford teamed up with Carroll Shelby to create the GT350. ...
Rare 1971 Dodge Super Bee Emerges With Numbers-Matching Drivetrain
27 Jan 2024, 16:50 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1968, the Super Bee was Dodge's entry-level muscle car. But even though it was a more affordable alternative to the Charger, it wasn't a huge success. In fact, Super Bee sales were also notably slower than its Plymouth twin,...
This 1965 Plymouth Satellite Is an Unassuming Sleeper With a GTX Secret
26 Jan 2024, 19:10 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to 1960s Plymouths, the Satellite doesn't get as much love as the GTX and Road Runner. That's not exactly surprising, though, because the Road Runner and the GTX left a significant mark on the muscle car segment. However, wh...
1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429 Hides NASCAR Engine Under Rare Pastel Blue Finish
26 Jan 2024, 15:29 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The golden muscle car era was a fabulous period for many reasons. Dealerships were packed with high-performance rigs, and Detroit was rolling out drag-ready factory cars like it was nobody's business. They all came in flashy colors, and most o...
This 1968 Plymouth Fury Convertible Is a Junkyard Gem Waiting for a Second Chance
26 Jan 2024, 12:45 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1956 as a sub-series of the Belvedere, the Plymouth Fury was born as a top-level trim vehicle with gold trim and nearly 300 horsepower. Some say it's one of the rigs that kickstarted the US high-performance market. A rather ex...
This 1956 Ford Thunderbird in Peacock Blue Is What All Barn Finds Hope To Become
25 Jan 2024, 16:38 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1955 as a sporty two-seat convertible, the Ford Thunderbird was similar to the Chevrolet Corvette in many regards. However, Ford chose to position the drop-top as a more upscale automobile. The release led to the creation of the perso...
Amazingly Clean 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Hides Rare COPO Goodies Under the Hood
25 Jan 2024, 13:49 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1966 as a somewhat late response to the pony car market created by the Ford Mustang and Plymouth Barracuda, the Chevrolet Camaro was an instant hit. The first-gen model sold around 430,000 units over three model years and spawned lege...
This 1965 Chrysler 300L Is a One-Year Wonder With a Super-Rare Feature
24 Jan 2024, 16:28 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1955 as a homologation special, the Chrysler C-300 redefined the American high-performance market. Labeled as one of the early muscle cars, the C-300 evolved into the 300B in 1956. The latter was the first American production model to...
Unique 1971 Citroen SM Espace Heuliez Shows Off Targa Top and Maserati V6
24 Jan 2024, 15:25 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Citroen is primarily known for affordable cars and highly innovative vehicles like the Traction Avant and DS, but the company also built a luxury grand tourer back in the day. I'm talking about the SM, which was born two years after Citroen pu...
Unassuming 1962 Dodge Polara 500 Packs Rare Max Wedge Three-Speed Setup
24 Jan 2024, 12:10 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964 as a racing engine and offered in 1965 in road-going cars, the 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) HEMI is arguably one of the greatest mills of the golden muscle car era. But it wasn't Chrysler's first high-performance lump. ...
Big Warehouse Opens Up To Reveal Massive Stash of Forgotten E-Body Mopars
23 Jan 2024, 16:30 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to early 1970s Mopar muscle cars, going for the range-topping 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) HEMI V8 engine is the simplest (albeit expensive) way to get your hands on a rare rig. But convertibles are also scarce. Let's take the E...
This One-Owner 1970 Shelby GT500 Super Cobra Jet Is Classic Ford Mustang Perfection
23 Jan 2024, 14:01 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The first-generation Ford Mustang is arguably one of the most iconic and sought-after classics from the golden muscle car era. But at nearly three million units sold from 1964 through 1973, it's anything but rare. The Shelby versions, on the o...
1970 Dodge Challenger Emerges After 30 Years With Rare R/T SE Package Combo
22 Jan 2024, 16:35 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / A brand-new car for the 1970 model year, the first-generation Dodge Challenger moved nearly 77,000 units in its first year on the market. Sales dropped below 30,000 examples per year through 1974, leaving 1970 as its best-selling year. These fig...
Unrestored and Highly Original 1968 Shelby GT500 Is an Incredible Barn Find
22 Jan 2024, 15:16 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964, the Ford Mustang needed only a few months to morph into a high-performance vehicle. In 1965, Shelby was already offering the track-prepped GT350. But Carroll took things up a notch in 1967 by introducing the notably more potent ...
Curious Yellow 1971 Plymouth Duster 340 Sells For Record Price
22 Jan 2024, 12:33 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Mecum's massive Kissimmee 2024 auction saw a 1970 Plymouth HEMI 'Cuda convertible cross the block for $2.14 million. That's a record for 1970 'Cuda models and a sum that made headlines. But it wasn't the only Mopar that set...
All-Original and Unrestored 1970 Plymouth 'Cuda Doesn't Need a HEMI To Shine
21 Jan 2024, 19:42 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964, around the same time as the Ford Mustang, the Plymouth Barracuda pioneered the pony car segment. By the late 1960s, however, the nameplate had morphed into a fully-fledged muscle car. Offered with the 383-cubic-inch (6.3-lite...