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.
Forgotten, Rat-Infested 1971 Dodge Challenger Gets First Wash in 25 Years
29 Nov 2022, 12:14 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in late 1969 as a counterpart to the third-generation Plymouth Barracuda, the Dodge Challenger arrived a bit late to the muscle car party. And it didn't stay long either because Dodge discontinued the nameplate after the 1974 model ...
1963 Chrysler Town & Country Is Not a Minivan, but a Rare 9-Passenger Wagon
28 Nov 2022, 21:16 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The Town & Country nameplate is usually associated with the minivan that Chrysler produced from 1989 to 2016. Introduced as a counterpart to the Dodge Caravan, it was part of the minivan craze that took over the U.S. in the 1990s. But few remem...
Perfectly Restored 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Hides a Super-Rare Feature
28 Nov 2022, 20:13 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Produced from 1962 to 1967, the Chevrolet Corvette C2 stands out as the shortest-lived generation of the iconic sports car. But that's not the only feat that sets it apart from the rest. It's also regarded as the most beautiful Corvett...
Mysterious 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona Spent Decades in Storage, Gets Second Chance
28 Nov 2022, 16:31 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1969 as a homologation car for the NASCAR series, the Dodge Charger Daytona is arguably the most radical muscle car of the golden era (alongside its Plymouth Superbird counterpart). But it's also one of the rarest because Dodge b...
1957 Buick Century Permanently Parked 60 Years Ago Begs for Total Restoration
25 Nov 2022, 11:47 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Most barn-found classic cars come with similar stories nowadays: they were driven for a couple of decades and then parked and forgotten for various reasons. Well, this 1957 Buick Century is a bit different because it's been taken off the road ...
Frozen 1945 Studebaker US6 Truck Comes Back to Life, Handles Snow Like a Champ
24 Nov 2022, 18:51 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to 6x6 military trucks from World War II, the GMC CCKW is arguably the most iconic rig we can think of. But Studebaker also built a 6x6 hauler around the same time, and it's just as cool as its more popular GMC sibling. While ...
Range Rover Graveyard in the Middle of Nowhere Is Home to Hundreds of Abandoned SUVs
24 Nov 2022, 17:03 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Back in February 2022, I showed you a fairly large junkyard that was packed with abandoned Range Rovers. At the time, I thought it was the largest Range Rover stash out there, but I was wrong. There's an even bigger scrapyard somewhere in Wale...
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS Drag Races 1974 Plymouth Duster, the Underdog Wins
24 Nov 2022, 14:52 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to classic muscle cars, most enthusiasts agree that the golden era lasted from 1964 to 1971. But this doesn't necessarily mean that the muscle cars built beyond 1971 are slow and underpowered. Because some of them remained appeal...
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Looks Better Than New, Hides Modern Surprise Under the Hood
23 Nov 2022, 18:26 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1955, the Chevrolet Tri-Five became an instant hit and moved more than five million units over three model years. Come 2022, and it's one of the most desirable 1950s classics, despite not being a rare automobile. The range-top...
Take a Tour of the 2022 MCACN Barn Find Display, Packed With Rare Muscle Cars
23 Nov 2022, 16:01 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN) might not be as big and visible as the annual auto shows in Detroit or Los Angeles, but it's a great event to attend if you're into classic muscle cars. Even more so if you like barn finds bec...
1960 Plymouth Belvedere Sitting for 40 Years Looks Like "Christine" on a Really Bad Day
22 Nov 2022, 21:31 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The late 1950s and early 1960s gave us some of the most beautiful American automobiles ever built. Whether it's the Cadillac Eldorado, the Chevrolet Impala, or the Ford Thunderbird, they all stand out as breathtaking classics. But to me, nothi...
Abandoned WWII Ammunition Plant Is Loaded With Classic Trucks, Rare Gems Included
22 Nov 2022, 18:34 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / If you're into classic pickup trucks and heavy-duty haulers, you definitely need to check out the Rob van Vleet collection. It's mostly made up of derelict vehicles, so it's far from being a museum-grade collection, but it includes q...
World's Rarest 1970 Plymouth Superbird Flaunts Psychedelic Livery at 2022 MCACN Show
22 Nov 2022, 11:53 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When talking about rare 1970 Plymouth Daytona Superbirds, we usually think about the 135 HEMI-equipped examples and unusual color combinations. But the rarest Superbird out there is actually a unique "winged warrior" sporting a psychedeli...
1963 Studebaker Avanti R2 Is a Supercharged Gem That Hides One Little Secret
21 Nov 2022, 20:31 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1962, the Studebaker Avanti was supposed to save the company from going bankrupt. Sadly, the two-door coupe wasn't as popular as Studebaker had hoped, and the automaker went under in 1967, but the Avanti soldiered on as one of th...
1963 Dodge 330 Is the Perfect Sleeper, Hides Rare V8 Surprise Under the Hood
21 Nov 2022, 15:39 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to classic Mopars from the golden muscle car era, enthusiasts are usually chasing HEMI-equipped cars. But the mighty 426 isn't the only great engine hailing from that era. While not as iconic, the Max Wedge is just as cool. And i...
1968 Shelby Mustang GT350 Sitting for 40 Years Is an All-Original Barn Find
21 Nov 2022, 14:12 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / With only 7,104 units built from 1965 to 1969 (out of 2.2 million), the first-generation Shelby GT350 is one of the rarest Mustangs out there. But even so, many GT350s are still locked away in barns waiting to be restored and put back on the road. ...
Barn Find Gold: Mazda RX-7 With 8K Miles Gets First Wash in 23 Years
20 Nov 2022, 19:14 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Seeing classic cars come out of long-term storage is one of the coolest things out there, but most of them are usually mundane vehicles that aren't worth restoring. It doesn't happen very often, but some barn finds make me think: "he...
Five Special Chevrolet Corvettes You Probably Never Knew Existed
19 Nov 2022, 14:33 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / In continuous production since 1953, the Chevrolet Corvette is the most recognizable sports car ever built in the U.S. But much like every iconic nameplate, it spawned quite a few iterations that only a few diehard enthusiasts know about. Here are ...
1970 AMC AMX Parked for 40 Years Is a Big Bad Blue Time Capsule
18 Nov 2022, 10:02 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1970, the AMC AMX is often viewed as yet another one of American Motors Corporation's attempts to compete with muscle cars of the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, and Plymouth Barracuda variety. But the AMX was a two-seater, so it...
Plain-Looking 1962 Chevrolet Impala SS Convertible Is a Rare Sleeper With a Nasty V8
17 Nov 2022, 19:58 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to beefed-up 1960s Impalas, there's no denying that the race-spec SS 409 Lightweight and the Z11 drag racer are the rarest and coolest rigs out there. Too hard to find and expensive? Well, Chevrolet also offered a road-spec versi...