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.
Rare 1971 Plymouth 'Cuda Left To Rot in the Woods Gets Saved After 40 Years
5 Jun 2023, 20:54 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to derelict classic cars, we usually associate them with junkyards and worn-out barns. But many old vehicles were also left to rot away in backyards or even abandoned in the woods. This 1971 Plymouth 'Cuda, for instance, spent mo...
Abandoned 1949 Studebaker Gets First Wash in 43 Years, Doesn't Look Half Bad
4 Jun 2023, 16:13 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Studebaker may have disappeared over a half-century ago as of 2023, but it left a few iconic cars and achievements behind. The Avanti is perhaps the company's most famous vehicle due to the numerous speed records it broke in 1963. It was also ...
This 1958 Chevrolet Impala Is a Perfect 10: Low Mileage, Big-Block V8, Rare 4-Speed
3 Jun 2023, 10:34 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / One of Chevrolet's most iconic models, the Impala goes back to 1956 when the company used the name on a concept car with Corvette-like styling cues. The badge was then assigned to a production model in 1958 and remained in showrooms until 1985...
1956 VW Beetle Hidden in a Backyard for 40 Years Is a Rare Time Capsule
2 Jun 2023, 20:42 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1938 as an affordable "people's car," the original Volkswagen Beetle soldiered on until 2003. Sold for a whopping 65 years, it was built in no fewer than 21 factories spread across 17 countries and six continents. And a...
This 1967 Dodge Charger Is a Mysterious Junkyard Find in Need of TLC
2 Jun 2023, 15:11 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1966 as a fastback-styled, more premium take on the performance car segment, the Dodge Charger sold 37,344 units in its first year on the market. Although sales were far below the competition, they were high enough for Dodge to keep t...
Real Racing 3 Gets Lotus Emira and Radical SR10 XXR in New Update
2 Jun 2023, 09:10 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Firemonkey Studios is rolling out a new update for Real Racing 3. Available for download on June 6, update 11.4 will include two brand-new cars, a new Formula E season, and Exclusive Series for a couple of existing vehicles. The highlight of thi...
1965 Volkswagen Beetle Woodie Conversion Is a Different Type of Barn Find
1 Jun 2023, 10:10 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to barn finds, I can't help but get excited whenever I see rare, golden-era muscle cars emerge from long-term storage. And I feel the same about old Studebaker, Kaiser, and Nash models. But barn finds aren't always about pro...
Unassuming 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air Is a Rare Sleeper With a Nasty V8
31 May 2023, 19:45 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / What makes an early 1960s Chevrolet great? If your answer includes the words "bubble-top," "Impala SS," and "big-block V8," you're my type of car enthusiast. But as much as I love the early-1960s Impala SS, I'...
Tuxedo Black 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air "Fuelie" Is a True Labor of Love
31 May 2023, 17:29 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Built from 1955 to 1957, the Chevrolet Tri-Five is a design icon of the 1950s and one of the most desirable American classics out there. But it's far from rare because Chevrolet built almost five million units over three model years. On the ot...
Ben Collins Drives 1985 Porsche 962, Calls It the Pinnacle of 1980s Engineering
31 May 2023, 11:14 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When you hear the name Ben Collins, you instantly think about the guy behind Top Gear's The Stig. But Collins is more than just a man dressed in a white racing suit to entertain us. He's also a skilled racing driver who tackled many motor...
1963 Oldsmobile Starfire Looks Pretty in Pink, Also a One-Year Wonder
30 May 2023, 16:18 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to full-size cars from the 1960s, we often think about the Chevrolet Impala, the Cadillac Eldorado, Ford Galaxie, and Lincoln Continental. There's also a variety of Chrysler models, including the 300 series and the New Yorker. An...
World's Rarest Ferrari 512 BB Is Still All-Original After 42 Years
30 May 2023, 11:29 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1973, the Berlinetta Boxer (BB) marked a significant shift for Ferrari. Designed to replace the front-engined Daytona, it was the first in a series of cars equipped with a mid-mounted flat-12 engine. The first BB model, the 365 GT4...
Dusty 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Comes Out of the Barn With Holy-Grail Tri-Power V8
30 May 2023, 09:02 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Built from 1963 to 1967, the Chevrolet Corvette C2 is a highly desirable classic for many reasons. For starters, it's the shortest-lived iteration of the American sports car. Second, it's the sexiest Corvette of the 1960s. Third, it was s...
Beautifully Restored 1969 Dodge Charger R/T Flexes 440 Muscle and Rare Stripe Delete
29 May 2023, 19:17 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / What's your favorite Dodge Charger from the golden muscle car era? Are you into the luxurious first-generation fastback, or are you more of a second-gen Coke bottle-style design? Or perhaps you fancy the fuselage-type version that Dodge introd...
1967 Ford Mustang Parked 50 Years Ago Is a One-of-One Gem Awaiting Restoration
29 May 2023, 16:13 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / How many years of storage does it take to turn a beautiful classic into a rust bucket? Well, it depends on a few factors, but keeping a vehicle in a barn for 50 years is definitely a bad idea. On the flip side, dry storage is a far better option in...
Very Rare 1963 Bristol 408 Emerges After 40 Years in a Barn, Chrysler V8 Fires Up
29 May 2023, 11:35 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When talking about rare barn finds, we usually think about Ferraris, Bugattis, and muscle cars from the golden era. But the list extends well beyond these types of classics, especially in the UK, which is home to a long list of hand-made sports car...
5 Le Mans-Winning Cars You Probably Never Heard Of
28 May 2023, 20:57 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / First run in 1923, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is turning 100 this year. The world's oldest active endurance racing event, Le Mans was contested by all major automakers throughout history, with Porsche, Audi, and Ferrari leading the way in terms o...
This 1969 Oldsmobile 442 Is Rarer Than a Hurst/Olds, Gets First Wash in Years
27 May 2023, 18:55 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / It's been almost 20 years (as of 2023) since GM discontinued Oldsmobile, but the brand's legacy still lives on thanks to a long list of achievements and fantastic cars. Founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, Oldsmobile offered the first sp...
One-of-None 1970 Plymouth Superbird Convertible Is a Satellite Trickster
26 May 2023, 19:14 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1969, the Dodge Charger Daytona took the muscle car market by storm with its radical design. One year later, Plymouth launched the Road Runner Superbird, also fitted with a sharp nose cone and a massive wing atop the trunk lid. Bot...
Isotta Fraschini Le Mans Hypercar Looks Fast at Monza, Previews Road-Legal Supercar
26 May 2023, 17:36 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans will see Ferrari return with a prototype race car at Circuit de la Sarthe after a whopping 50 years. But the Maranello-based firm is not the only Italian carmaker looking to get back on the endurance racing bandwagon. I...