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.
Flawless 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Has Three Rare Features To Brag About
18 Oct 2023, 20:34 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / As a classic car enthusiast, I'm very fond of the first-generation Chevrolet Corvette. Whether it's an early 1953 version with an underpowered inline-six or the 1962 variant with its high-power 327-cubic-inch (5.4-liter) V8, all C1s are a...
Burned 1970 Dodge Challenger Is Proof That Not All Classic Cars Are Worth Saving
18 Oct 2023, 13:07 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to derelict muscle cars from the golden era, I agree that we should do our best to save all of them. They're just too cool to ignore, regardless of the drivetrain setup. But some vehicles are too far gone and, sadly enough, end u...
Holy Grail 1963 Dodge 330 Lightweight Flexes Numbers-Matching Max Wedge V8
18 Oct 2023, 11:02 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) HEMI V8 is arguably Chrysler's most iconic engine ever. However, it's not the only beefed-up mill that powered street-legal and race-spec Mopars alike in the 1960s. Before the HEMI arrived, Chrysler had the ...
This 1969 Pontiac Firebird Is a Trans Am Trickster With a Modern Surprise Under the Hood
17 Oct 2023, 19:15 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced for the 1967 model year, the Pontiac Firebird was a bit late to the pony car market. The Ford Mustang and Plymouth Barracuda had established the segment almost three years before. And while the Chevrolet Camaro debuted in September 1966,...
Tor Red 1970 Plymouth Superbird Is a Low-Mileage Survivor With Original Everything
17 Oct 2023, 12:47 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / You've probably heard the word "survivor" thrown around a lot lately. It's usually used to describe classic cars that have soldiered on for decades in pretty good condition. However, the term is often wrongly applied to vehicles...
This 1964 Beaumont Is a Rare Canadian Chevelle With a Nice Surprise Under the Hood
16 Oct 2023, 20:41 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Founded in 1918, ten years after General Motors was established in the US, GM Canada manufactured several well-known Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, and GMC vehicles. But it also produced a series of Canada-exclusive models that remain relatively unknow...
Abandoned 1948 Studebaker Gets Unexpected Second Chance After 47 Years
16 Oct 2023, 16:57 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Established in 1852, Studebaker manufactured wagons, carriages, and harnesses until it entered the automotive business in 1902. It started with electric vehicles and began making gasoline vehicles in 1904. By the time World War II broke, Studebaker...
Flawless 1965 AMC Rambler American Flexes Rare Color Combo at Car Show
16 Oct 2023, 14:54 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When discussing mid-1960s American vehicles, we usually consider iconic nameplates like the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Corvette, and Dodge Belvedere. We often forget about cars built by American Motors Corporation (AMC), the fourth-largest US automake...
Restored 1970 Plymouth AAR 'Cuda Is a Rare Mopar Needing Assembly
15 Oct 2023, 19:45 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964 as America's first pony car (it arrived two weeks before the Ford Mustang), the Plymouth Barracuda morphed into a full-fledged muscle car toward the end of the decade. Plymouth completed the transformation in 1969 by movi...
B7 Blue 1969 Dodge Charger in Need of Restoration Flexes a Super Rare Option
14 Oct 2023, 18:13 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / First redesigned for the 1968 model year, the Dodge Charger became highly successful thanks to its newly acquired muscle car looks. Dodge sold 96,100 units that year, followed by a whopping 104,978 examples in 1969. What made the second-gen Char...
1970 Plymouth 'Cuda Has It All: Low Mileage, Numbers-Matching HEMI, High-Impact Color
13 Oct 2023, 17:47 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The 1970 Plymouth Barracuda is arguably one of the greatest muscle cars of the golden era. And it's a prized classic regardless of the trim and engine configuration. However, no Barracuda is more desirable and valuable than the HEMI 'Cuda...
Abandoned 1951 Hudson Hornet Takes First Drive in Years, Still Looks Fabulous
13 Oct 2023, 14:59 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Established in 1909, Hudson Motor Company disappeared in 1957, three years after a merger with Nash-Kelvinator. The Detroit-based company is pretty much forgotten nowadays, but it left a few cool automobiles behind. The Hudson Hornet is arguably th...
Grabber Orange 1970 Ford Mustang Boasts a Rare Performance Option We All Love
13 Oct 2023, 12:20 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Originally born as a pony car based on the Ford Falcon, the Mustang became increasingly bigger and heavier toward the early 1970s. But Ford also added more powerful engines, so the 'Stang morphed into a fully-blown muscle car. The transform...
All-Original 1964 Studebaker GT Hawk Hides a Rare Engine Under the Hood
12 Oct 2023, 20:26 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Studebaker is now mostly famous for the Avanti. This innovative sports car set many speed records upon its introduction in the early 1960s. But the Avanti wasn't the only nameplate that got the company's supercharged V8 engine. The Hawk s...
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle Found In a Basement After 30 Years Still Has the Original V8
12 Oct 2023, 13:41 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964 as a competitor for the downsized Ford Fairlane, the Chevrolet Chevelle got a significant redesign for the 1968 model year. The upgrade also moved it deeper into muscle car territory thanks to a pair of new V8 engines. Already...
This 1951 Ferrari 212 Inter Had the Same Owner for 71 Years
12 Oct 2023, 11:49 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Ferraris built in the 1950s and 1960s have developed into highly sought-after and expensive classics. As a result, most of them changed hands quite a few times beginning with the 1990s. Some examples are still with their original owners as of 2023....
Super Rare 1969 Chevrolet Corvette L88 Barn Find Gets Rescued for Full Restoration
11 Oct 2023, 15:20 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Most barn finds we see today are usually mundane classics that aren't necessarily worth saving. However, rare vehicles still pop up from time to time. This 1969 Chevrolet Corvette is one of them. Built in almost 39,000 units, the 1969 Corve...
Once an Unloved Flop, This 1959 Edsel Corsair Is Now a Rare and Prized Classic
11 Oct 2023, 12:48 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / In late 1956, Ford established the Edsel division to compete with Oldsmobile and DeSoto. Exactly three years later, FoMoCo retired the brand following a loss of over $250 million in development, manufacturing, and marketing costs. That's a who...
2023 BMW M4 GT3 Flexes All-Carbon Fiber Body at Misano Circuit
10 Oct 2023, 15:31 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The BMW M4 arrived in 2014 to replace the two-door version of the M3. Since then, the German company unleashed more than a handful of special-edition versions, including a trio of race-spec cars. The M4 DTM was the first to hit the track. It hap...
This 1970 Plymouth AAR 'Cuda Is a One-Year Wonder in Burnt Orange
10 Oct 2023, 12:41 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964, the original Plymouth Barracuda was, alongside the Ford Mustang, one of the first pony cars in showrooms. And just like its more iconic competitor, the Barracuda morphed into a fully-blown muscle car toward the end of the decade...