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 Chevrolet Nova Comes out of Long-Term Storage With Rare, Special-Order Features
19 Sep 2023, 13:32 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The Chevrolet Nova isn't the first vehicle we think of when talking about rare muscle cars, but the compact actually spawned a few rare gems back in the day. I'm obviously talking about the range-topping SS396 version and the COPO. The la...
Perfectly Restored 1969 Plymouth HEMI GTX in Q5 Turquoise Is Pure Eye Candy, Rare Too
19 Sep 2023, 11:43 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced for the 1967 model year as an upscale-trimmed version of the two-door Belvedere, the GTX quickly became known as the "Gentleman's muscle car." And even though it wasn't as slick as its premium corporate twin, the Dodg...
1970 Plymouth Superbird Hidden in a Repair Shop Is a True HEMI in FJ5 Limelight
18 Sep 2023, 19:25 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Chrysler introduced its first "winged warrior," the Dodge Charger Daytona, in 1969. Developed for NASCAR racing, the beefed-up Charger morphed into a production car for homologation purposes. Dodge built 503 units, just enough to make the...
1969 Plymouth Barracuda With Rare and Controversial Feature Is an Amazing Survivor
18 Sep 2023, 14:14 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When discussing the Plymouth Barracuda, we usually think about the third-generation version. And that's because the 1970 to 1974 model is the best-looking 'Cuda out there. It was also available in the coolest colors and with Mopar's ...
1970 Plymouth AAR 'Cuda Has It All: Rare Option, Numbers-Matching V8, Lemon Twist
18 Sep 2023, 10:33 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced a few weeks before the Ford Mustang, the Plymouth Barracuda is technically America's first pony car. But the Mopar doesn't get much credit for that. And not only is it overshadowed by the Mustang, but the first two generations ...
1970 Plymouth Barracuda Convertible Flexes Perfect Color Combo, Also a Rare Gem
17 Sep 2023, 10:26 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964 as a pony car, the Plymouth Barracuda was redesigned twice before it went into the history books in 1974. Launched in 1967, the second-generation A-body gained a sportier look and bigger, more powerful V8 engines, including the 3...
20 Ways Oldsmobile Revolutionized the Car Industry
17 Sep 2023, 08:02 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Originally established as Olds Motor Vehicle Company by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, Oldsmobile was, for most of its existence, GM's entry-level premium brand. Purchased by General Motors in 1908, Oldsmobile slotted above Chevrolet and Pontiac and ...
Million-Dollar 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Breaks Down at Car Show, Needs a Push To Get Going
15 Sep 2023, 11:28 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / As of September 2023, the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Unhlenhaut Coupe is the most expensive car ever auctioned at $143 million. And this record isn't going to fall very soon. However, a quick look at the next most expensive classics sold at au...
Holy Grail 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle LS6 Emerges After 46 Years With Custom Paint
14 Sep 2023, 20:44 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Whenever I hear about classic cars parked for over 30 years, I think about rust buckets that aren't worth restoring. But it's not always like that. Some vehicles get lucky, spend their retirement in heated garages, and emerge in solid con...
1951 Hudson Hornet Flexes Unlikely Color, Sounds Like It Could Win NASCAR Races
14 Sep 2023, 15:04 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Established in 1909, the Hudson Motor Car Company disappeared in 1957, three years after it merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form the American Motors Corporation (AMC). While largely forgotten outside the Hudson fan club, the brand left a noteworthy ...
Stunning 1962 Jaguar E-Type in Golden Sand Hides a Rare Feature Inside the Cabin
14 Sep 2023, 13:00 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1961, the E-Type is arguably the most iconic Jaguar ever made. The sports car is also regarded as one of the most beautiful automobiles ever designed, and rumor has it Enzo Ferrari himself called it "the most beautiful car ever m...
1957 Oldsmobile 88 Parked for Decades Hides Rare Triple Carburetor Setup Under the Hood
13 Sep 2023, 15:20 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1949, the Oldsmobile 88 debuted with a big bang. Slightly smaller than a full-size and sporting the same V8 offered in the larger 98, the 88 dominated the NASCAR series until Hudson Hornet arrived in 1951. The Rocket V8 engine turn...
This Barn-Hidden Harley-Davidson Collection Includes Rare Knuckleheads and Trikes
13 Sep 2023, 13:23 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Unlike motorcycles, barn-found classic cars get a lot of attention today. But vintage bikes can be just as spectacular, especially Harley-Davidsons built before and around World War 2. Like this stash of rare Knuckleheads. Documented by YouTube&...
1969 Dodge Charger With Rare Option Combo Springs Back to Life After 22 Years
13 Sep 2023, 11:02 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to classic Mopars, 426 HEMI cars are arguably the most desirable. But collectors also chase certain option combinations. The R/T SE bundle that Dodge offered in the late 1960s and early 1970s is one of them. What makes this combo s...
Plain-Jane 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Packs a Numbers-Matching HEMI Punch
12 Sep 2023, 19:24 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / In 1969, Chrysler found a great way to make its muscle cars stand out. It introduced the High-Impact color palette, which included the flashiest exterior colors available at the time. And needless to say, the High-Impact Mopars are among the most s...
World's Rarest 1936 Auburn 852 Supercharged Is a Woodie That Shouldn't Exist
12 Sep 2023, 14:44 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Established in 1900 and shut down in 1973, Auburn Automobile is one of those pre-WWII car companies we rarely hear about. And that's not surprising, given the business struggled financially for most of its life. But Auburn left an iconic vehic...
1964 1/2 Ford Mustang Owned by the Same Family Since New Is Amazingly Original
11 Sep 2023, 15:18 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / What's your holy-grail first-generation Ford Mustang? To many, it's either the Cobra Jet or the Boss 429, two of the many high-performance versions introduced in the 1960s. Others favor the Shelby GT500 or GT350 rigs. But not everyone is ...
1969 Ford Mustang Flaunts Cobra Jet Goodies, Disappointing Surprise Under the Hood
11 Sep 2023, 13:18 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / I don't know about you, but I love it when a mundane muscle car from the golden era hides a beefed-up engine under the hood. Because nothing beats a sneaky sleeper. But it can happen the other way around, too, as many nicely optioned vehicles ...
1970 Dodge Charger 500 Looks Better Than New, Rocks Plum Crazy Suit
11 Sep 2023, 11:23 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1966 as a luxurious fastback aimed at the Rambler Marlin, the Dodge Charger morphed into a fully-fledged muscle car by the end of the decade. The transformation began in 1968 when Dodge rolled out a redesigned version with "coke ...
The 10 Mopar "High-Impact" Colors: Complete Guide
9 Sep 2023, 11:11 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / There's still an ongoing debate about whether the 1964 Pontiac GTO was the first muscle car or not, but everyone seems to agree that the golden muscle car era lasted from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. That's when the Big Three introdu...