Ciprian Florea
7,287 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.
Manny Khoshbin Buys 2023 Porsche 911 GTS America Edition, Takes It for a Joyride
9 Jul 2023, 12:32 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Last time we checked on Manny Khoshbin, he had taken delivery of his rare, one-of-12 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren HDK. Built by McLaren's MSO division, the HDK was parked next to his other nine SLRs. It's been just a week since we saw the HD...
1960 Lincoln Continental Motorhome Abandoned for 50 Years Is Rarer Than Hen's Teeth
9 Jul 2023, 10:36 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The motorhome industry has evolved dramatically since the 1960s, but most campers are still based on production trucks and vans. However, car-based RVs are no longer a thing unless we talk about home-built projects. Granted, car-based motorhomes...
Rare 1939 Mack Truck Emerges After 50 Years in Hiding; It's a Stunning Survivor
7 Jul 2023, 15:47 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Now a subsidiary of AB Volvo, Mack Trucks was founded in 1900 as the Mack Brothers Company and quickly became one of America's premier truck manufacturers. The company is mainly famous for heavy-duty haulers and buses, but it also manufactured...
Perfectly Restored 1970 Dodge Charger R/T Flaunts Super Rare Factory Options
7 Jul 2023, 13:40 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1966 as a somewhat luxurious fastback, the Dodge Charger was redesigned into a full-fledged muscle car in 1968. The second-gen version remained in production until 1970, and now it's the most desirable iteration of the nameplate....
"Flying" Tri-Five: 1956 Chevrolet 210 Gets Rescued After Spending 30 Years Up on a Sign
7 Jul 2023, 11:06 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When talking about derelict cars, we usually think about classics abandoned in junkyards or rotting in barns and backyards. But not all of them are resting in such places. The 1956 Chevrolet 210 you see here may look like it was just dragged out of...
1-of-1 1971 Plymouth Cuda in Plum Crazy Doesn't Need a 426 HEMI To Stand Out
6 Jul 2023, 12:19 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced alongside the Ford Mustang in 1964, the Plymouth Barracuda developed into a fully-fledged muscle in 1970. That's when Chrysler introduced the E-body version, graced by an aggressive appearance and available with Mopar's greates...
Chevy Corvette C2 Collection Spent Decades in a Garage, Includes Numbers-Matching Gems
6 Jul 2023, 10:15 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The C2 is one of the most desirable versions of the Chevrolet Corvette, so finding one that's been sitting for decades in a garage is exciting news. Well, the folks at "Horsepower Depot" unearthed not one, not two, but six Corvettes ...
Pink 1954 Ford Crestline and Kom-Pak Sportsman Trailer Combo Is Deliciously Vintage
5 Jul 2023, 15:10 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The predecessor to the Ford Fairlane, which spawned the iconic Crown Victoria Skyliner, the Crestline was built for only three years from 1952 to 1954. It was Ford's range-topping model at the time, sitting above the Customline and the Ma...
Rare 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk Gets Satisfying First Wash After Decades in a Barn
5 Jul 2023, 13:13 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / One of America's first carmakers, Studebaker went into the history books in 1967 after an unsuccessful merger with Packard. But even though it hasn't been around for more than 50 years, the company is still remembered thanks to a long lis...
Abandoned Forest Junkyard Packed With Rare Cars Is Heartbreaking Yet Fascinating
5 Jul 2023, 10:47 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Most classic cars are now spending their twilight years in scrapyards, waiting to be dismantled or crushed. Some are still locked up in barns or left to rot away in backyards. However, others have been abandoned in the wild with no chance of becomi...
1930 Chevrolet Sitting Since 1954 Is an Incredible Time Capsule
4 Jul 2023, 15:43 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When talking about 1930s US automobiles, we usually think about luxury rigs wearing Packard, Cadillac, and Duesenberg badges. Or then-innovative creations from Cord and Pierce-Arrow. But the 1930s weren't only about expensive vehicles. The Big...
Jay Leno Shows Off His Rare 1968 Dodge Dart GTS
4 Jul 2023, 12:18 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to high-profile car collectors, no one beats Jay Leno in my book. Not only he's an entertaining guy to watch, but he also does a lot of restoration work by himself. Moreover, his collection is amazingly diverse, ranging from stea...
1969 Chevrolet Camaro With All-Original Sheet Metal Flaunts Rare Color Combo and LM1 V8
3 Jul 2023, 18:03 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1966 as a late response to the Ford Mustang, the first-generation Chevrolet Camaro remained in production until 1969. While not quite as popular as the Mustang, the Camaro performed well, moving 220,906 examples in 1967. Sales increas...
1955 Nash Metropolitan Is an Altered Dragster Freak With a HEMI V8 Under the Hood
3 Jul 2023, 14:43 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The end of World War II found US automakers struggling to ramp up production of existing models and develop new and modern designs. But the industry recovered quickly, and the automotive market grew at a pace never before seen in the 1950s. The &qu...
World's Rarest 1970 Dodge Dart Is a Super Swinger Automatic Rotting Away in a Backyard
3 Jul 2023, 11:55 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Born in 1960 as a full-size car, the Dodge Dart was moved into the intermediate market in 1962. However, the shift didn't last long, as Dodge decided to redesign the Dart into a compact in 1963. The nameplate soldiered on in this segment until...
Unassuming 1971 Chrysler New Yorker Is a Rare Sleeper With a Nasty V8
2 Jul 2023, 18:40 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / One of the most iconic Chryslers ever made, the New Yorker was born in the 1940s and soldiered on for over 50 years. A full-size rig for most of its time in showrooms (the 1983-to-1988 version was a midsize), the nameplate is usually associated wit...
1969 Chevrolet El Camino Has the Full Package: True SS, 396 V8, Numbers Match
1 Jul 2023, 13:55 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Developed in response to the Ford Ranchero, the Chevrolet El Camino arrived in 1959 as a two-door pickup based on a full-size car. GM discontinued the nameplate after only two years but chose to bring it back into showrooms in 1964. This time aroun...
White Ferrari Testarossa Gets Satisfying Detailing As It Gets Ready for New Owner
30 Jun 2023, 16:36 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1984 as a successor to the Berlinetta Boxer, the Testarossa was Ferrari's flagship model until the F40 arrived in 1987. This status, paired with its unique appearance due to the side strakes spanning from the doors to the rear fe...
Holy-Grail 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle LS6 Spent 50 Years in Hiding, Bad News Under the Hood
30 Jun 2023, 12:13 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / In 1962, Ford decided to shrink the Fairlane to a midsize car in response to the AMC Rambler. Plymouth did the same with the Belvedere. General Motors, on the other hand, designed a brand-new platform for intermediate cars. Commonly called the A-bo...
1969 Dodge Charger Parked for Decades Comes With a Rare Surprise Under the Hood
29 Jun 2023, 15:09 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1966, the original Dodge Charger soldiered on until 1978. But not all iterations are prized collectibles nowadays. Mopar gearheads are usually after the 1966-to-1971 versions, mainly because they were sold with the greatest high-perfo...