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.
Not Even a $6M Restoration Would Get Elvis Presley's Lockheed Jetstar Up in the Air Again
6 Mar 2023, 12:52 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The 1962 Lockheed Jetstar previously owned by Elvis Presley recently got its first sip of electric power after sitting for 40 years in Roswell, New Mexico. But will it fly again? Well, it needs millions of dollars to become flight-worthy but that&#...
The 50 Best Chevrolet Models of All Time (No. 50 – 41)
5 Mar 2023, 18:00 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Established in 1911 by brothers Louis and Arthur Chevrolet and General Motors co-founder William C. Durant, Chevrolet became GM's high-volume, entry-level car division in 1918. The brand quickly morphed into one of America's greatest auto...
Here's the Infamous 1970 Dodge Challenger "Black Ghost" Flexing Its HEMI V8 in Public
4 Mar 2023, 14:00 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Once an enigmatic street drag racer with a police officer behind the wheel, the 1970 Dodge Challenger "Black Ghost" is arguably the most desirable classic Mopar right now. Honored by Dodge with a modern edition based on the 2023 Challenge...
1957 Chevrolet 210 "Mr. Gasket" Tribute Hides a Nasty Surprise Under the Hood
3 Mar 2023, 17:16 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Built from 1955 to 1957 with yearly updates, the Chevrolet Tri-Five is now a design icon of the 1950s. And the range-topping Bel Air version is a desirable collectible that can fetch six-figure sums in Sport Coupe and Nomad trim. But the Tri-Five i...
1936 Hudson Terraplane Hidden in a Barn for 60 Years Is a Fabulous Time Capsule
2 Mar 2023, 14:41 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / It's 2023 and there are more than 30 mainstream carmakers that still operate in the U.S. But according to IBIS World, there are no fewer than 157 car and automobile manufacturing businesses across the United States. It may sound like a lot but...
Once a Pile of Junk, This 1962 Plymouth Fury Is Now a Spotless Max Wedge Gem
2 Mar 2023, 12:33 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964 as a race-spec engine and offered as a street-spec unit starting in 1966, the 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) HEMI V8 is arguably the greatest Mopar powerplant of all time. Built until 1971, it powered a long list of iconic muscle car...
Elvis Presley's 1962 Lockheed Private Jet Comes Back to Life After 40 Years
1 Mar 2023, 14:59 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Back in January 2023, a 1962 Lockheed Jetstar previously owned by Elvis Presley went under the hammer and found a new owner for more than $200,000. But will it fly again after 40 years of storage or will it spend retirement as a celebrity decoratio...
NASCAR Speedway Abandoned for 55 Years Is Now a Ghost Track Hidden in the Woods
28 Feb 2023, 17:10 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When NASCAR was founded in 1948, there was a requirement that any car entered must be made entirely of parts available to the general public through automobile dealers. This rule began to change about a decade later, but it's not the only thin...
1975 AMC Gremlin X Parked for Decades Is a Perfect Time Capsule in a Super-Rare Color
28 Feb 2023, 15:01 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / In the late 1960s, Detroit carmakers were still battling for supremacy in the muscle car market. However, the increasing popularity of small cars imported from Europe and Japan prompted U.S. companies to design their first subcompact offerings. In ...
Porsche to Field Three 963 Works Cars at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans
28 Feb 2023, 11:49 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Porsche and Team Penske will tackle the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans with three 963 race cars, the German carmaker revealed. The factory-backed racers will be joined by a fourth 963 run by privateer squad Hertz Team JOTA. The event will mark Porsche...
1956 Lincoln Premiere vs Car Crusher Doesn't End Well for the Luxury Classic
27 Feb 2023, 19:19 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to barn and junkyard finds, there's no better headline than "saved from the crusher." It makes me happy to know that a rusty classic is getting a second chance, even though it's just for a few parts most of the tim...
Black-on-Black 1967 Dodge Coronet Is One of the First R/Ts Ever Built, Rocks 440 V8
27 Feb 2023, 16:34 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / First introduced in 1949 as a full-size car, the Dodge Coronet was discontinued in 1959. The nameplate returned in 1965, but Dodge assigned the badge to its intermediate lineup. Slotted under the Polara, the fifth-generation Coronet was used as a b...
One-Owner Citroen 2CV Leaves the Barn After 23 Years, 2-Cyl Boxer Comes Back to Life
27 Feb 2023, 13:36 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1938 and offered for civilian use in the mid-1940s, the Volkswagen Beetle is known as Europe's primordial people's car. Or Germany's very own Ford Model T. But it wasn't Europe's only successful attempt to off...
Rare 1969 Ford Torino Talladega Has a Unique Feature Purists Will Probably Hate
26 Feb 2023, 18:00 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / There's still an ongoing debate as to which decade gave us the coolest American cars, but when it comes to performance vehicles, it's the 1960s that stand out. That's when the Big Three engaged in a full-scale war in both NASCAR and ...
Plain-Looking 1967 Ford Mustang Is a Nightmist Blue Sleeper With a Big-Block Secret
25 Feb 2023, 17:47 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Even though it's one of the most desirable classic cars from the 1960s, the first-generation Ford Mustang remains somewhat affordable thanks to the fact that Ford built millions of them. Sure, the Shelbys, the Cobra Jets, and the Boss versions...
Here's a Super-Rare Jaguar XJR-15 Revving Its Massive, Naturally Aspirated V12
24 Feb 2023, 17:34 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When talking about iconic Jaguars, we usually think about road-going cars like the XK120 and E-Type or Le Mans-winning racers like the D-Type and XJR-9. The XJ220 supercar also gets a lot of attention, but, for some reason, the XJR-15 gets left beh...
Ghostbusters Ecto-1 1/6 Scale Model Is Huge and Extremely Detailed, Priced To Match
24 Feb 2023, 16:22 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Some iconic movie cars have become so popular that they get replicated a lot. The Mustang Eleanor, the Dukes of Hazard Dodge Charger, and the Bumblebee Camaro come to mind. The Ghostbusters Ecto-1, on the other hand, is not a common sight. Because ...
1966 Dodge HEMI Coronet Is a Four-Door Unicorn Built by Don "Big Daddy" Garlits
24 Feb 2023, 14:03 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964 as a race-spec engine, the iconic 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) HEMI V8 founds its way into street cars for the 1966 model year. Dodge and Plymouth originally offered it in a total of four nameplates, but the HEMI became available i...
Abandoned 1977 Chevrolet Motorhome Returns From the Dead, Goes Drifting To Celebrate
23 Feb 2023, 18:23 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Most owners say that the average lifespan of a motorhome is between 15 to 20 years with proper maintenance. That said, RVs usually spend more time with their owners compared to regular automobiles. But this doesn't mean that many of them don&#...
1970 Plymouth 'Cuda Looks Sassy in Green, Shaker Tops Rare 440 6-BBL Option
23 Feb 2023, 15:53 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964 as a pony car, the Plymouth Barracuda didn't become a fully-fledged muscle car until 1970. Sure, Plymouth built a HEMI-powered Super Stock version in 1968 and offered the 440-cubic-inch (7.2-liter) Super Commando for the 196...