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 Super Bee Flexes Original Paint and Rare HEMI/4-Speed Combo
21 Jan 2024, 13:31 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1968, the Dodge Super Bee was one of two entry-level muscle cars launched by Chrysler that year. The other one was the Plymouth Road Runner. The latter was the most successful of the two. While the Super Bee moved only 56,202 units un...
Perfectly Restored 1971 Oldsmobile 442 Shines Bright in Lime Green, Rare Too
20 Jan 2024, 15:57 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Even though I'm mostly a Mopar guy when it comes to golden-era muscle cars, I'm also a big fan of Oldsmobile products. There are too many reasons to list here, but the Oldsmobile 442 is one of them. I am talking about the first- and se...
1972 Pontiac Grand Prix SSJ Flaunts Rare Hurst Heritage and Big V8
19 Jan 2024, 15:23 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Produced from 1962 to 2008, the Pontiac Grand Prix primarily stands out for two things. First, it was the company's second longest-running nameplate after the Bonneville. Second, it was Pontiac's first venture into the personal luxury car...
A Closer Look at the World's Only 1971 Ford Mustang Boss 302, Found After 25 Years
19 Jan 2024, 13:07 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The 2023 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN) included a historical moment for Ford Mustang fans. The event saw the public unveiling of the only factory-built 1971 Ford Mustang Boss 302, a car that's been found and restored after missing ...
Abandoned 1968 Dodge Charger R/T Hides Desirable Color Under Crusty White Paint
18 Jan 2024, 15:32 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Revived in 1965 as a midsize car, the Coronet spawned two high-performance versions. The iconic Charger arrived in 1966 as a premium offering and was redesigned in 1968 into a fully-fledged muscle car. That same year, Dodge launched the Super Bee a...
1962 Ford Galaxie 500 Is an Unassuming Sleeper With a Holman-Moody Secret
18 Jan 2024, 13:09 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / We don't hear much about the Ford Galaxie today, but this nameplate was once the company's pride and joy. Introduced in 1959 as a range-topping trim above the Fairlane 500, the Galaxie became a stand-alone model in 1962. And it remained F...
Family-Owned 1973 Plymouth Gold Duster Emerges With Original V8, Rare Color Combo
17 Jan 2024, 16:31 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Plymouth joined the emerging compact car market in 1959 with the Valiant. Some ten years later, the company decided it needed a sportier body style to get customers into showrooms, and the Duster was born. Aimed at the Ford Maverick and AMC Horn...
1967 Mercury Cougar XR-7 Hidden for Decades Is Amazingly Original
17 Jan 2024, 14:58 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Most classic cars that spend a lot of time in storage be it a barn or garage, usually emerge with all sorts of issues, including rust. But some get lucky and return into the light in solid condition, like this 1967 Mercury Cougar. Retired from p...
1957 Chevrolet 210 Handyman "Xcellerator" Is Not Your Grandma's Grocery-Getter
17 Jan 2024, 11:24 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When talking about the 1960s drag racing scene, we usually think about factory Super Stock vehicles, gassers, and the then-new funny cars. But enthusiasts kept racing true-blue stock rigs at the time. The 1957 Chevy you see here is one of those car...
Abandoned 1970 Ford Torino Cobra Boasts a Rare Performance Option We All Love
16 Jan 2024, 21:01 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / What's your favorite Ford engine from the golden muscle car era? Mine's the NASCAR-spec Boss 429, which was obviously offered in the limited-edition 'Stang with the same name. However, I can't go wrong with the Cobra Jet, which ...
Top 10 Most Expensive Classic Cars Sold at Kissimmee 2024
16 Jan 2024, 15:16 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The year's first significant car auction event, Kissimmee 2024 brought more than 3,000 new and classic vehicles under the hammer. And no fewer than 25 of them changed hands for seven-figure sums. Not surprisingly, nine of these vehicles wer...
Triple-Black 1964 Pontiac GTO Is a One-of-One Tri-Power Gem
15 Jan 2024, 20:49 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Did the Pontiac GTO kickstart the muscle car segment? The jury is still out on that. While the general consensus is that the GTO popularized the niche, the concept can be traced back to the 1950s. But it doesn't really matter because the first...
Pink 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T Is a One-Year Wonder With a Big-Block Punch
15 Jan 2024, 19:37 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Launched alongside the third-generation Plymouth Barracuda in 1969, the Dodge Challenger was a brand-new player on the muscle car market for the 1970 model year. At the time, Dodge didn't know the segment was about to collapse due to strict em...
Top 10 Most Expensive Muscle Cars Sold at Kissimmee 2024
15 Jan 2024, 13:51 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Mecum's Kissimmee 2024 auction just concluded, with more than 3,000 vehicles crossing the block. The event saw over 20 classics change hands for millions of dollars, some of which set new records. The first major auction event of 2024 was a...
1969 Dodge Super Bee A12 Flaunts 440 Six-Pack and Ultra-Rare Floral Top
14 Jan 2024, 16:22 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / In 1968, Chrysler introduced a pair of entry-level muscle cars. Both were based on the bread-and-butter Dodge Coronet and Plymouth Belvedere nameplates. I'm obviously talking about the Super Bee and the Road Runner, which were essentially stri...
Rare 1966 Ford GT40 MkI Road Car Nets Almost $7 Million at Auction
13 Jan 2024, 19:31 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Born out of a feud between Henry Ford II and Enzo Ferrari, the GT40 is America's most successful outright Le Mans winner, having won the 24-hour race four times from 1966 to 1969. And not only did it inspire two modern supercars, but it also m...
1970 Plymouth HEMI 'Cuda Goes for Less Than Expected, Still Sets $2 Million Record
13 Jan 2024, 12:36 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Offered for only two years, the Plymouth HEMI 'Cuda is one of the most desirable and valuable classic Mopars out there. That's because Plymouth sold fewer than 800 units in 1970 and 1971. The third-gen Barracuda was a big hit in its fi...
One-Owner 1960 Ford Starliner Emerges After 42 Years in a Barn
12 Jan 2024, 16:37 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to Fords built in the early 1960s, we mostly remember the full-sized Galaxie and Fairlane. Having debuted in 1959 in the then-new compact market, the Falcon also comes to mind. But we rarely think about the Starliner. And that'...
Forget About the LS6; This 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 Is Rarer Than Hen's Teeth
12 Jan 2024, 15:17 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The Chevrolet Chevelle was one of America's most popular nameplates in 1970, moving a whopping 443,659 units. And only 4,475 of them left the assembly line with the 450-horsepower 454-cubic-inch (7.4-liter) V8, making the SS 454 LS6 among the ...
Super Rare 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 "Big Tank" Sells for Record Price
12 Jan 2024, 12:35 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1963 and discontinued in 1967, the second-generation Chevrolet Corvette is arguably the shortest iteration of the nameplate. But despite its short time in dealerships, it spawned some of the most iconic and desirable models. The 1963 ...