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.
1957 Oldsmobile 88 Barn Find Hides Rare V8 Banned by NASCAR Under the Hood
18 May 2023, 16:46 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Most enthusiasts agree that the Pontiac GTO, introduced in 1963, was the first muscle car. But while that's correct regarding vehicles advertised with a focus on performance, muscle cars can be traced back to the 1950s or even the late 1940s. ...
1970 Plymouth Superbird Has the Full Package: Rare, Unrestored, Matching Numbers
17 May 2023, 18:54 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / In 1969, an unsuccessful NASCAR campaign with the Charger 500 prompted Dodge to develop the Daytona, the competition's first aero car. Built in just 503 units for homologation, the Daytona was followed in 1970 by an almost identical Plymouth m...
1968 Dodge Charger and 1973 Dodge Police Car Go Off-Road in Bullitt-Style Chase
17 May 2023, 14:20 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When did you last see a great car chase on the silver screen? I'm not a fan of the Fast & Furious series, so I will go with 2017's Baby Driver. But I'm also obsessed with classic muscle cars, so my all-time favorite chases are th...
1940 Chevrolet Master Trapped in a Barn for 70 Years Is an Amazing Time Capsule
16 May 2023, 20:56 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / How long must a car stay in storage to be considered a barn find? Well, opinions vary on this one, but it seems enthusiasts favor classics that have been hidden for at least 40 years. I'm not sure why, but it probably has something to do with ...
This Stunning 1965 Pontiac 2+2 Will Make You Forget About the Chevrolet Impala SS
16 May 2023, 17:46 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The 1960s brought a few radical changes to the American auto industry, especially in the high-performance department. The Pontiac GTO, launched in 1963, helped popularize muscle cars. The Plymouth Barracuda and Ford Mustang, introduced in 1964, cre...
All-Original and Unrestored 1966 Dodge Charger Hides a Rare Feature Under the Hood
15 May 2023, 21:09 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The original B-body Dodge Charger is widely known as one of the most iconic muscle cars ever built. However, Dodge had something a bit different in mind when it introduced the nameplate in 1966. Specifically, the company noticed that it wasn't...
Barn-Kept 1978 Porsche 911 SC Gets First Wash in 20 Years, Turns Into Beautiful Survivor
15 May 2023, 17:22 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Most barn finds emerge from long-term storage with severe rust and mechanical issues. Some, however, return into the light as unmolested survivors that are only a few repairs away from becoming road-worthy again. The 1978 Porsche 911 SC you see her...
The 50 Best Dodge Models of All Time (No. 20 – 11)
14 May 2023, 20:56 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Founded in 1900 as the Dodge Brothers Company, Dodge became a Chrysler division in 1928. Initially designated as a mid-priced brand above Plymouth, Dodge became a big player in the muscle car market in the 1960s. The company is also famous for i...
Holy-Grail 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 Discovered in Georgia, Bad News Under the Hood
13 May 2023, 15:59 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to the first-generation Chevrolet Camaro, no version is more collectible and valuable than the COPO ZL-1. Fitted with a race-spec 427-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) V8 and built in only 69 units, the COPO 9560 is a million-dollar classic in a...
1946 Studebaker Pickup Abandoned for 50 Years Gets Rescued, Engine Refuses To Die
12 May 2023, 17:29 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When talking about vintage pickup trucks, we usually refer to haulers made by Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge. And that's not surprising. The Ford F-Series goes back to 1948, while Chevy built a few iconic pickups before the Silverado became a thin...
1968 Dodge Coronet Police Car Comes Out of Retirement To Drag Race With Hellcat V8
12 May 2023, 09:43 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Dodge is most famous for sturdy pickup trucks and tire-shredding muscle cars, but the Chrysler-owned brand has also been providing police departments with special law enforcement vehicles. The Charger Pursuit is the latest in a long line of police ...
This 1971 Dodge Challenger Is a 180-MPH Screamer With a Nasty Surprise Under the Hood
11 May 2023, 19:18 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1969, the Dodge Challenger moved about 77,000 units in its first year on the market. But things changed in 1971 when rising insurance costs for high-performance cars slowed sales to only 27,377 examples. And fewer than 5,000 of them w...
1957 Pontiac Hidden in a Barn for 50 Years Is an Original Survivor With a Rare Option
11 May 2023, 15:03 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Initially used to describe rare and valuable classic cars found in derelict condition, the term "barn find" is now more loosely applied to all sorts of vehicles that sat for as little as ten years. It's not necessarily wrong, but it ...
The 1956 Arnolt-Bristol Is a Rare Bertone-Designed Sports Car With British Bones
11 May 2023, 10:52 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The 1950s was a great era for car manufacturing, especially in the US. The industry grew at a never-before-seen pace, and companies introduced many innovations. Automatic transmissions and power windows became widespread, while the overhead valve V...
The Cord Speedster Is a One-of-None Gem That Should Win Beauty Contests
10 May 2023, 19:20 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Cord, Duesenberg, and Auburn are three carmakers we don't hear much about these days. And that's not surprising, given all three went the way of the dodo bird in the 1930s. But some of their automobiles still live on as beautiful and expe...
1970 Dodge Challenger T/A Parked for 39 Years Is an Unmolested Survivor That Still Runs
10 May 2023, 10:19 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1969, the Dodge Challenger was a big success, moving almost 77,000 units in its first year on the market. And like most muscle cars from the golden era, its production run also included a few high-performance versions that ended up be...
Missouri Barn Hides Big Mopar Stash, Rare Dodge Super Bee and Charger Gems Included
8 May 2023, 15:26 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Some say the golden era of barn finds is already behind us. That may be true regarding pre-WII Bugattis and expensive 1950s Ferraris, but many American classics from the muscle car era have yet to emerge from hiding. This big barn in Missouri prove...
1964 Pontiac GTO vs 1970 Oldsmobile 442 Drag Race Is Extremely Close
8 May 2023, 12:48 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1963, the Pontiac GTO is widely regarded as America's first true muscle car, but that's not exactly accurate since some carmakers offered high-power cars as early as the 1950s. Still, the GTO can be credited with popularizin...
The 50 Best Dodge Models of All Time (No. 30 – 21)
7 May 2023, 17:00 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Founded in 1900 as the Dodge Brothers Company, Dodge became a Chrysler division in 1928. Initially designated as a mid-priced brand above Plymouth, Dodge became a big player in the muscle car market in the 1960s. The company is also famous for i...
1951 Pontiac Chieftain Parked for 55 Years Is a True Barn Find Saved for Restoration
5 May 2023, 14:39 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Have you noticed that classic cars kept in storage for only a few years are now called barn finds? It's a bit annoying and kind of dilutes the term, doesn't it? Well, if you're tired of boring Malaise-era cars being "unearthed&q...