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.
Morgan and Malle London Team Up to Create the Ultimate Adventure-Ready Super 3
26 Oct 2022, 11:34 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / It's been just a few months since Morgan revealed the Super 3 as a successor to the iconic 3-Wheeler, and the sports car is already getting a special edition loaded with bespoke features. This time, it's the result of a collaboration betw...
1952 GMC Suburban Stored for 50 Years Is a Low-Mileage Time Capsule
25 Oct 2022, 10:18 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1934 and still in production as of 2022, the Chevrolet Suburban is an absolute legend. Not only the longest continuously used automobile nameplate in production, but the Suburban was also one of the first all-metal-bodied station wago...
Once a Rust Bucket, This 1966 AMC Rambler American Is Now a 1-of-3 Gem
24 Oct 2022, 18:58 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / With increasingly bigger and more luxurious cars in high demand after World War II, U.S. automakers ignored the compact segment almost entirely in the 1950s. But that changed during the Recession of 1958 and the following years saw all carmakers ju...
1972 Datsun 240Z Sees Daylight After 30 Years, It's a Lime Yellow Survivor
24 Oct 2022, 15:58 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The Japanese automobile industry was largely associated with economy cars back in the day, especially in the U.S. But that changed in the late 1960s thanks to a couple of stylish and impressively fast sports cars: the Toyota 2000GT and the Nissan 2...
This 1969 Dodge Super Bee Was Stuck on a Lift for Over 10 Years and We're Sad About It
24 Oct 2022, 12:22 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Produced from 1968 to 1971 as a low-priced muscle car, the Dodge Super Bee is also one of the rarest Mopars out there. Yes, Dodge sold about 56,200 of them over four model years which is a lot, but how many of them are still around today? Becaus...
This Rare, Controversial 1957 Packard Wagon Packs a Supercharged V8 Under the Hood
23 Oct 2022, 18:37 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / In 1954, Packard and Studebaker merged into an entity that was supposed to save both brands. Things didn't go as planned, and Packard went belly-up in 1958, while Studebaker disappeared in 1967. While unsuccessful, the merger spawned a Packard...
Farmhouse Abandoned for Decades Has a 1964 Buick Wildcat Stuck in the Barn
23 Oct 2022, 17:02 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / If I had a dollar for every classic car that's stuck in a barn right now, I'd be a millionaire. Yup, there are millions of oldtimers waiting to be rescued in the U.S. and while some get a second chance at life, others are pretty much curs...
Abandoned for Decades, the Atom Smasher Was the World's First Particle Accelerator
23 Oct 2022, 14:00 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / You know that feeling when you're passing by a car junkyard that's close to the road? It feels like you're traveling back in time for a few moments, doesn't it? Well, if that feels strange, imagine driving by the Westinghouse At...
World's Only 1970 Plymouth Barracuda Four-Door Comes Out of Hiding, Needs a New Home
22 Oct 2022, 19:04 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When talking about the golden muscle car era, we usually think about high-performance two-door coupes and convertibles. But that doesn't mean that Detroit did not make beefed-up sedans. Ford, for instance, dropped its big-block V8 engines i...
1967 Chevrolet Chevelle Has Been Hiding for Decades, It's a Holy-Grail L78
21 Oct 2022, 13:50 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Built from 1963 to 1977, the Chevelle is one of the most iconic Chevrolet nameplates. A popular midsize back in the day, it also spawned a few cool iterations during the golden muscle car era. The 1970 SS454 LS6 is arguably the most desirable Ch...
NASCAR Returns to Real Racing 3 in New Update, Nissan Z Also Included
21 Oct 2022, 10:07 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / It's been a very long time since Real Racing 3 provided new NASCAR action but the wait is finally over. Update 10.8 not only includes a brand-new season but also brings all three 2022-spec cars into the game. I am, of course, talking about the...
1970 Plymouth Satellite Is Not Your Grandpa's Wagon, Nasty Surprise Under the Hood
20 Oct 2022, 20:02 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / One cool thing about the golden muscle car era is that Detroit automakers dropped high-performance engines in just about every midsize vehicle. Chrysler, for instance, offered the 426-cubic-inch in everything from the premium Plymouth GTX and Dodge...
1941 Studebaker Commander Hidden in a Garage Is a Rare, Stylish Survivor
20 Oct 2022, 14:15 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Discontinued in 1967, the Studebaker brand went into the history books more than five decades ago, but it left quite a few cool cars behind. The Avanti, which was America's fastest production car at its debut, is one of them. The Super Lark, t...
The 1968 Pontiac Firebird "Superteen" Is a Unique Gem Designed by George Barris
20 Oct 2022, 12:39 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / America's most iconic car customizer, George Barris created some of the coolest movie cars out there. The list is quite long and includes celebrated rigs like the 1966 Batmobile, the Munster Koach, and Drag-U-La. But did you know that Barris a...
Stash of 1970s Plymouth Satellites Found in the Woods Is Beyond Hope
19 Oct 2022, 15:54 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to barn-found classics, the best you can hope for is a thick layer of dust and a solid floor. Unfortunately, most of them emerge out of long-term storage with severe rust damage, but that's not the worst it can happen to an oldti...
1922 Ford Model T "Doctor's Coupe" Is 100 Years Old, Still Runs Like a Champ
19 Oct 2022, 14:20 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / While it was invented in 1886 when Carl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the automobile didn't become popular and affordable until the late 1900s. That's when Ford introduced the Model T. Produced for almost two decades, the M...
World's Rarest 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Is a Super Stock Racer With Only 210 Miles
19 Oct 2022, 11:40 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced as a pony car competitor for the Ford Mustang in 1967, the Chevrolet Camaro developed into a full-blown muscle car in 1968, when GM began offering engines with more than 350 horsepower. But it's the 1969 version that stands out as t...
Stunning 1957 Chevrolet Nomad Fuelie Is What All Barn Finds Hope To Become
18 Oct 2022, 20:11 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / With almost 23,000 units built, the Chevrolet Nomad is arguably the rarest version of the 1955-to-1957 Tri-Five. And if we split that number between model years, the 1957 variant comes on top as the scarcest, with only 6,264 examples sold. Grant...
1973 Dodge Charger Sitting for 31 Years Has a Rare Factory Option
18 Oct 2022, 16:15 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1966 as a two-door fastback with premium appointments, the Dodge Charger morphed into a full-blown muscle car toward the end of the decade. Fitted with Mopar's most powerful engines and sporting an aggressive design, the Charger ...
1958 Plymouth Fury Looks Like a Barn Find, It's Actually a Tribute to "Christine"
18 Oct 2022, 11:52 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The Plymouth Fury is now one of the most iconic Mopars ever built and it owes much of its fame to John Carpenter's 1983 supernatural horror film "Christine." Yes, the late 1950s Fury is a gorgeous car, but many agree that it wouldn&#...