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.
1965 Chevrolet Corvette L78 Drag Races 1978 Camaro, It's Closer Than You Think
17 Apr 2023, 09:41 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Muscle cars from the Malaise era get a lot of heat nowadays. And that's because they don't look as hot as their predecessors and, according to many, aren't actual muscle cars. But while that may be true to some extent, so ponies buil...
Unofficial 2023 Dodge Caravan Is a Hellcat-Powered Hauler With a Durango Face
16 Apr 2023, 18:52 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Crossovers and SUVs are widely regarded as the vehicles that overshadowed the station wagon, but it's minivans that first eclipsed car-based haulers. It happened in the 1990s, a few years after Renault and Chrysler introduced their game-changi...
World's Lowest-Mileage 1979 Jeep Golden Eagle Comes Out of the Barn After 36 Years
15 Apr 2023, 16:34 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to classic Jeeps, the Willys MB, and the CJ-5/CJ-6 are among the most desirable nowadays. The former, thanks to its role in WWII, while the latter is the most capable CJ (Civilian Jeep) and the model that laid the foundation for the W...
This Rare 1973 Dodge Charger R/T Is an Undercover Dart Built in Brazil
14 Apr 2023, 19:13 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / What's the first car you think of when you hear Dodge Charger? Is it the 1966 version with its grand tourer-like design or the sportier-looking 1970 variant? Or you're more into the modern four-door iteration of the nameplate. I'm...
The 2023 Rolls-Royce Manchester Ghost Is a Bespoke Tribute to History and Science
14 Apr 2023, 14:31 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / With a little more than 6,000 cars sold in 2022, Rolls-Royce is anything but a high-volume automaker. Its vehicles aren't incredibly rare either by overall production figures. Still, we'll never see two identical Rolls-Royces on the road....
Some Dodge Dealers Are Now Asking $350,000 for a 2023 Challenger Demon 170
14 Apr 2023, 11:41 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / At just under $100,000, the 2023 Dodge Challenger Demon 170 is a steal. We're talking about a muscle car that delivers 1,025 horsepower, hits 60 mph (97 kph) in 1.66 seconds, and covers the quarter-mile in less than nine seconds while being mo...
1968 Dodge Charger Abandoned for 40 Years Gets Second Chance at Life
13 Apr 2023, 13:02 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The first-generation Dodge Charger is a popular classic nowadays; many are paraded at car events or showcased in museums. But the sad truth is that most of them are still rotting away in junkyards and barns, hoping they will get a second chance at ...
This 1970 Dodge Challenger Has a Rare Feature You Probably Never Knew Existed
12 Apr 2023, 18:31 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced for the 1970 model year, the original Dodge Challenger was short-lived, being retired at the end of 1974. However, four years were enough for it to become an iconic nameplate. More than 50 years later and the first-generation Challenger ...
Bentley Celebrates Le Mans Glory With Limited-Edition Continental GT and GTC
12 Apr 2023, 15:02 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / In 1923, a driver named John Duff entered the first 24 Hours of Le Mans with a Bentley 3 Litre. His fourth-place finish prompted W.O. Bentley to field a works car in 1924. The 3 Litre crossed the finish line first and marked the start of a glorious...
This Abandoned Cottage Has an Iconic Car Buried in the Garden
11 Apr 2023, 16:09 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When discussing derelict classic cars, we usually think about vehicles stored for decades in barns or left to rot away in junkyards. But many so-called "barn finds" are often hidden in places you wouldn't expect, like basements and b...
Jay Leno Drives the 2023 Cadillac Escalade-V, Can't Stop Smiling
11 Apr 2023, 13:23 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The proud owner of a massive and spectacular vehicle collection made up almost entirely of classic cars, Jay Leno isn't the kind of guy you'd see driving a modern SUV. But the brand-new Cadillac Escalade-V may have changed that because th...
1991 GMC Syclone Kept in Storage Since New Gets First Wash in 32 Years
10 Apr 2023, 15:32 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Automakers launch more limited-edition vehicles than ever nowadays. And while it's cool that we get to buy so many cars that will become collectors' items in just a few years, we also have to deal with insane dealer markups. On top of tha...
1969 Oldsmobile 442 Parked for More Than 40 Years Is Surprisingly Original
10 Apr 2023, 13:13 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Discontinued in 2004, Oldsmobile is now largely forgotten outside enthusiast circles, but GM's once glorious division left a few cool vehicles and many notable benchmarks behind. For instance, did you know that Olds offered the first speedo...
1969 Ford Mustang R-Code Found on a Rotisserie Is a 1-of-1 Puzzle That Requires Assembly
8 Apr 2023, 18:56 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / With millions of examples sold in its first few years on the market, you'd be tempted to think that the first-generation Ford Mustang is anything but rare. But while that may be true when we look at the overall numbers, certain versions of the...
2023 Maserati MC20 GT2 Hits the Track With Aggressive Aero Kit and Loud V6
7 Apr 2023, 14:23 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it unveiled the MC20 in 2020, Maserati promised that it will use the sports car to return to endurance racing. Three years have passed since then and the race-spec version of the MC20 is almost ready to into production. Teased in March 2023, t...
1962 Chevrolet Impala SS Is a Stock-Appearing Sleeper With a Big-Block Secret
7 Apr 2023, 12:16 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1958 as a fancied-up version of the Bel Air, the Chevrolet Impala quickly morphed into a full-size muscle car with the introduction of the SS package in 1961. And by 1963, Chevrolet had already launched he Z11, a lightweight Impala bu...
Forget About the GT-R Nismo, This Is the Ultimate Nissan Supercar
6 Apr 2023, 11:31 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Still available as of 2023, the Nissan GT-R R35 is the company's fastest and most powerful production car. And to many enthusiasts, the GT-R Nismo is the ultimate Nissan. To me, however, no Nissan is more spectacular than the R series race car...
1969 Dodge Super Bee Barn Find Emerges After 20 Years With Super Rare Color Combo
6 Apr 2023, 09:39 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When talking about Dodge muscle cars from the golden era, the Charger and Challenger are the first nameplates we think about, but the Super Bee was just as cool. Based on the Coronet two-door coupe and aimed at the Plymouth Road Runner, it was Dodg...
This 1971 Plymouth GTX Is a Fully Restored Rarity With a Nasty Surprise Under the Hood
5 Apr 2023, 15:58 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1966, the Plymouth GTX topped the Belvedere line as the company's range-topping muscle car. A more upscale-trimmed vehicle, the GTX remained in production until 1971, when Mopar discontinued the mighty 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) ...
1962 Chevrolet Bel Air Is the Ultimate "Bubble Top" Restomod, Packs 700 HP
5 Apr 2023, 13:20 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / What's your favorite classic Chevrolet Bel Air? Are you into Tri-Fives or do you prefer the unique 1958 version? Or maybe you like the 1959-1960 generation with its ridiculous, almost horizontal rear fins? Me, I'm a fan of the early 1960s...