Ciprian Florea
7,284 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.
1971 Plymouth Valiant Gets Satisfying First Wash After 29 Years in a Yard
5 Jun 2024, 13:54 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The Valiant isn't the first car you think of when talking about iconic Plymouth nameplates. Not only was it eclipsed by the muscle cars of the golden era, but it was also deprived of Chrysler's high-performance big-block V8 mill. However,...
Herbie Hancock's 1963 Shelby Cobra Has Been Sitting for Decades, It's a Rare Time Capsule
5 Jun 2024, 11:09 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / After retiring from racing in 1960, Carroll Shelby opened a high-performance driving school and a car shop in Los Angeles. The latter spawned the Shelby Cobra in 1962. Essentially a British-made AC Ace paired with a powerful Ford engine, the Cobra ...
This Six-Door, 24-Foot-Long 1970 Pontiac Catalina Is Not Your Average Grocery-Getter
4 Jun 2024, 15:24 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced as a trim level in 1950, the Pontiac Catalina became a stand-alone model in 1959 and soldiered on through 1981. Like most full-size cars of the era, the Catalina line included a diverse lineup ranging from two-door convertibles to four-d...
1965 Shelby GT350 Survivor Hides a One-Off Feature Under the Hood
4 Jun 2024, 14:16 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in April 1964, the first-generation Ford Mustang got the high-performance Shelby treatment only a few months later. The GT350 arrived for the 1965 model year as a lightened pony car prepped for track duty. The nameplate remained in produ...
Saved From the Crusher but Still Unlucky: 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge Is a Sad Junkyard Find
4 Jun 2024, 12:55 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The nameplate that kickstarted the muscle car segment, the Pontiac GTO, is the kind of classic you'd expect to see in museums and car shows. Unfortunately, as of 2024, many of these "Goats" are still rotting away in junkyards and bar...
1968 Plymouth Road Runner Claims 1-of-1 Status, Here's What Makes It Special
3 Jun 2024, 17:06 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to Mopar muscle cars from the golden era, the HEMI rigs usually take the spotlight. And that's mainly because these units are rare. However, some vehicles are significantly scarcer due to completely unexpected features, including...
1969 Plymouth HEMI Road Runner Goes for a Screaming Joyride With the Hood Off
3 Jun 2024, 14:39 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced for the 1968 model year as Plymouth's most affordable muscle car, the Road Runner had its best-selling year in 1969. That's when the company shipped 81,105 units. By 1971, when the golden muscle car era ended for Chrysler produ...
1973 Plymouth Duster Emerges From Dusty Barn, Gets First Wash in Years
3 Jun 2024, 12:16 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Do you know what's cooler than a rare and expensive classic being rescued from long-term storage? Seeing a more common and inexpensive rig getting the same treatment. Because classic cars that aren't particularly desirable also deserve a ...
1963 Cadillac Supposedly Owned by Elvis Presley Saved From Junkyard, Runs and Drives
2 Jun 2024, 16:23 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Back in November 2022, someone discovered a mysterious pink 1963 Cadillac limousine in a junkyard. The owner claimed it was previously owned by Elvis Presley. If you missed it, you can check it out here. About a year and a half later, the pink Brou...
Pink 1955 Studebaker Commander Regal Is a Stunning Low-Mileage Survivor
1 Jun 2024, 14:21 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The term survivor has lost some of its meaning nowadays when it's also applied to classic cars that have been repainted or had their engines rebuilt. But this doesn't mean there aren't any true survivors out there. This 1955 Studebak...
Geneva Motor Show Officially Discontinued, Qatar Event Returns in 2025
31 May 2024, 15:35 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The Geneva Motor Show, one of the world's oldest and most prominent automotive events, has been canceled indefinitely. The decision comes after the Swiss location hosted the first auto show after a four-year hiatus in 2024. The organizers cite...
1958 Cadillac Coupe DeVille Looks Pretty in Pink, Hides Modern Surprise Under the Hood
31 May 2024, 14:39 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Whenever I see a pink Cadillac, I have this feeling that Elvis Presley will pop up out of nowhere and climb aboard. Elvis loved pink Cadillacs more than anything, and I'm pretty sure he would have been happy to take this 1958 Coupe DeVille hom...
Once a Battered Mopar, This 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T Is Now a Museum-Grade Gem
31 May 2024, 12:07 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / In 1970, the Big Three had several muscle cars in dealerships. Dodge, which was selling the Charger and the Super Bee, decided it needed a new rig to slot below between the B-body rigs and the Dart. The Challenger was born as the last vehicle to jo...
This 1999 Buick Riviera Silver Arrow Marked the End of an Era
30 May 2024, 21:08 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1963 as a personal luxury car, the Riviera is one of Buick's longest-running nameplates. It remained in continuous production through 1993 and returned for one final generation the following year. The badge was retired from produ...
1969 Chevrolet Camaro Flexes COPO L72 Heritage, Eye-Watering Price
30 May 2024, 13:59 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The first-generation Chevrolet Camaro has many achievements to brag about, but there's no denying that the 1969 COPO is the main highlight of that era. Born as a way around GM's ban on midsize and smaller cars with engines larger than 400...
Forgotten 1960 Chevrolet Impala Gets Rescued After 40 Years, Original Engine Wants To Live
30 May 2024, 11:42 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1958 as a range-topping full-size above the Bel Air, the Impala moved 181,469 units in its first year on the market. This number helped Chevrolet regain the number-one production spot that year. Redesigned for the 1959 model year, the...
Paul Walker's 1969 Chevrolet Camaro RS Z28 Is Up for Grabs
29 May 2024, 18:43 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / It's been more than a decade since Paul Walker passed away in a tragic car crash, but his legacy lives on. Paul was featured posthumously in two installments of the Fast & Furious franchise (most recently in 2023's Fast X), and cars c...
This 1967 Dodge Charger Is a Numbers-Matching Gold Nugget With One Little Secret
29 May 2024, 13:19 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / In 1966, Dodge took the midsize car market by storm with the Charger. Based on the Coronet, the Charger featured a unique fastback design and a more luxurious interior than the average muscle car. The brand-new Charger was relatively successful and...
1955 Plymouth Plaza US Air Force Wagon Parked for 50 Years Is Ready for the Civilian Life
29 May 2024, 10:54 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / A short-lived entry-level model produced from 1954 to 1958, the Plymouth Plaza is one of the brand's lesser-known nameplates. Overshadowed by the Belvedere and even the Savoy, the Plaza is one of those classic cars no one really wants. As a re...
Quirky One-Year Gem: 1960 Dodge Matador Yard Find Needs a New Home
28 May 2024, 19:34 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Whenever we hear the name Matador, we usually think of the vehicles AMC produced from 1970 to 1978. But did you know that Dodge used the same nameplate a full decade before American Motors did? It happened in 1960 when Dodge slapped the "Matad...