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.
1970 Plymouth Superbird Convertible That Shouldn't Exist Flaunts Coyote V8 and Big Wing
10 Nov 2022, 14:53 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Plymouth and Dodge built quite a few muscle cars during the golden era and every single one of them was also offered with a convertible top. Except for the Charger Daytona and Superbird, the "winged warriors" that Dodge and Plymouth sold ...
1992 BMW 850CSi 4-Door Wagon Looks So Cool You'll Want To Buy One, but You Can't
10 Nov 2022, 12:52 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The BMW 8 Series made a highly-anticipated comeback to the market in 2018 but many enthusiasts consider that the modern iteration will never be as cool as the original grand tourer of the 1990s. And that's something you can't argue with. ...
2021–2022 Ford Bronco Recalled Over Rearview Camera Malfunction, 47K Units Affected
9 Nov 2022, 19:28 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Ford recalls certain 2021 and 2022 Ford Bronco SUVs over a rearview camera malfunction. The campaign includes vehicles equipped with rearview camera systems and eight-inch screen displays. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis...
Mysterious 1977 Chevrolet Corvette Found in Hawaii Is Rotting Away Next to a Tractor
9 Nov 2022, 17:07 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Much like the Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro, the Corvette survived through the Malaise Era with detuned V8 engines choked by emission regulations. As a result, C3-generation 'Vettes built after 1972 aren't as desirable as their pr...
Abandoned Property Is Loaded With Classic Cars, Rare Gems Included
9 Nov 2022, 15:12 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Discovering a classic car in a barn is loads of fun, especially if the vehicle in question is rare and desirable. But things become even more exciting when the barn is actually a warehouse packed with oldtimers. Like the one you're about to se...
1966 Ford Fairlane With 482 Stroker V8 Is Quicker Than a Thunderbolt, Runs 9s
9 Nov 2022, 10:12 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / If you're a fan of vintage Ford drag cars, you can't go wrong with the Thunderbolt. Based on the 1964 Fairlane, it featured a long list of race-spec parts and a beefed-up 427-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) FE V8 engine rated at close to 600 horse...
1973 Plymouth HEMI 'Cuda That Shouldn't Exist Is Very Real and Very Awesome
8 Nov 2022, 21:29 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / There's a lot of debate as to when the golden age of muscle cars began. Some say it started in 1963 with the arrival of the Pontiac GTO, while others claim it kicked off in 1955 with the Chrysler C-300. But most enthusiasts agree that the gold...
1950s Henney-Packard Ambulances Found Hiding in a Warehouse Are Rarer Than Hen's Teeth
8 Nov 2022, 19:00 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / One of America's premiere luxury automakers in the early 20th century, Packard went the way of the Dodo bird in 1958 following an unsuccessful merger with Studebaker. Come 2022 and most cars produced by the company founded in Warren, Ohio, are...
World's Largest Mopar Wing Car Collection Is Loaded With Unique and Expensive Gems
8 Nov 2022, 16:24 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Developed for NASCAR racing and thrown on public roads for homologation purposes, the 1969 Dodge Charger and 1970 Plymouth Superbird were considered quite ugly upon their introduction. Come 2022 and these "Winged Warriors" are among the m...
Jay Leno Drives the Ferrari 550 Barchetta, Calls It a Relaxing Car With a Needy Clutch
8 Nov 2022, 13:18 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1996, the Ferrari 550 doesn't get a lot of attention nowadays. It's not old enough to be considered a classic and it's not as extreme as other Ferraris from the era, like the F50. But it's quite a special Ferrari. ...
World's Only 1951 Kaiser Deluxe Pickup Is Up for Grabs, Needs Lots of TLC
7 Nov 2022, 17:05 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / While we still have vivid memories of cars built by discontinued marques such as Mercury, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile, most of us barely remember some brands that disappeared in the 1950s. Kaiser Motors is one of those companies. Established in 1945...
1963 Cadillac Supposedly Owned by Elvis Presley Found in a Junkyard, It's a Pink Mystery
7 Nov 2022, 15:53 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Cadillacs may have been the ultimate luxury cars back in the 1950s and 1960s, but this doesn't mean you won't find them in junkyards. If you're looking to save an Eldorado or a de Ville, chances are you'll find thousands of them...
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle Parked for 44 Years Is a 1-of-1 Gem Begging for Restoration
7 Nov 2022, 13:39 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Abandoned classic cars are anything but unusual. Because we got millions of them still waiting to be saved in barns and junkyards. But while most of them are rather mundane, some are rare gems waiting to be discovered and given the attention they d...
Jay Leno Drives 21.7-Liter Fiat Botafogo to Local Car Show, Gets Stuck in Mud
7 Nov 2022, 10:51 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Does anyone here know how many cars Jay Leno owns right now? Are we talking about hundreds? Or maybe thousands? Well, regardless of numbers, I do know that he owns some pretty cool rigs. And I'm not just talking about modern supercars or fa...
1968 Shelby Mustang GT500KR Found in Arizona Is a Rare Garage Queen
5 Nov 2022, 12:42 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964 as a pony car based on the Falcon, the Ford Mustang needed only a few years to develop into a full-blown muscle car. In 1968, Ford was already offering the mighty 428-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) Cobra Jet V8, while Shelby had a couple...
1958 Chevrolet Corvette Vintage Dragster Pops Up at SEMA, Flexes Meaty Tires
4 Nov 2022, 17:41 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The SEMA Show is a great event to attend if you're into tuning and aftermarket accessories, but it's usually populated by modern cars. If you're into classics, you may find a few cool restomods to drool over, but chances are you won&...
1970s Plymouth Satellites Left To Rot in the Woods for 40 Years Get Saved
4 Nov 2022, 15:28 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Storing a classic car in a barn is a bad idea if you want to drag it out still in one piece a few years later. But it's not the worse type of storage. Keeping it in the yard will surely turn it into a rust bucket. Sadly enough, millions of ...
Abandoned 1969 Oldsmobile 98 Gets First Wash in 26 Years, Rocket V8 Fires Up
4 Nov 2022, 13:08 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Dissolved in 2004 after a whopping 107 years on the market, Oldsmobile was noted for debuting several groundbreaking technologies and designs. And it also left a few iconic vehicles behind. Fans of muscle cars will obviously remember the 442 and...
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle Tricentennial Edition Is Rarer Than Hen's Teeth, a Stunning Sight
3 Nov 2022, 16:01 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1963 as a response to the downsized fourth-generation Ford Fairlane, the Chevrolet Chevelle evolved into a full-blown muscle car toward the late 1960s. The nameplate reached its performance peak in 1970 when Chevy created the infamous...
Stash of 1959 Chevrolet Impalas Emerges From the Barn, Waiting for a Second Chance
3 Nov 2022, 13:13 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Barn finds are cool and all but the problem with classic cars that spend decades in storage is that they tend to become rust buckets. Some aren't worth saving but others are too desirable to be ignored by enthusiasts. The 1959 Chevrolet Impala...