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.
Spotless 1972 Ford Mustang Sprint Is a Tribute to the Summer Olympics
11 Oct 2022, 12:55 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1964, the first-generation Ford Mustang became a huge success, moving no fewer than 2.2 million units through 1969. But sales decreased by a whopping 36% percent in 1970 and an additional 21% in 1971. That's when Ford decided it ...
1954 Chevrolet Bel Air Barn Find Has the Right Amount of Patina, Mysterious V8
10 Oct 2022, 18:43 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1949, the Chevrolet Bel Air remained in showrooms for more than 30 years until 1980. Come 2022, and it's one of America's most iconic nameplates and a desirable collectible. However, this recognition doesn't apply to th...
1977 & 1979 Pontiac Trans Ams Burn to the Ground in House Fire, Get Rescued Anyway
10 Oct 2022, 15:31 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / If you've been following Dennis Collins you probably already know he's a cool guy that's into classic cars. And that he's been saving many iconic collectibles from barns for many years now. We've seen him rescue rare For...
Exquisite 1957 Chevy Bel Air Wears Chrysler Color, Modern Surprise Under the Hood
10 Oct 2022, 12:55 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Local cars and coffee meetings might not be as glamorous as the big Concours d'Elegance events, but these small gatherings are often packed with really cool cars you don't see everything. Okay, maybe you won't stumble into a rare 193...
1970 Dodge Challenger Drag Races 1971 AMC Hornet, It's Closer Than You Think
10 Oct 2022, 10:23 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Whether we're talking about Fords, GMs, or Mopars, the golden muscle car era saw large numbers of cool high-performance cars arrive in showrooms. And more than 50 years later, they're all desirable classics. But while we tend to rememb...
Rare, Controversial 1970 Plymouth HEMI Superbird Hits the Auction Block
9 Oct 2022, 18:22 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Built in about 1,935 examples, according to most experts, the 1970 Plymouth Superbird is a rare and desirable classic. But enthusiasts go wild when this Mopar also comes with a 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) HEMI V8 under the hood. Not only because it&...
Abandoned Log Cabin Has a Yard Full of Classic Cars, Rare Diesel Gem Included
9 Oct 2022, 17:16 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / While many classic cars spend their retirement years being paraded at high-class events, the majority of them are actually rotting away with no prospect of being saved. You'll find them in the many junkyards that are operating in the U.S., but...
The Story of the Ford Durango, the Ranchero Successor You Never Knew Existed
9 Oct 2022, 12:00 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / While the coupe utility body style can be traced back to the 1930s, car-based pickups didn't become popular until the late 1950s. That's when Ford and Chevrolet introduced full-size, two-door automobiles with beds behind their cabs. Fo...
Baked 1956 Chevrolet Nomad Looks Like a Barn Find, Small-Block Surprise Under the Hood
8 Oct 2022, 17:44 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to classic cars, nothing beats a rotisserie restoration. It's the best way to preserve value and, depending on the car, even make a profit at public auctions. But not all classics get restored to original specifications. Some ...
1953 Pontiac Chieftain Hearse Comes Out of the Barn Just in Time for Halloween
7 Oct 2022, 20:14 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1949 as a replacement for the Torpedo, the Pontiac Chieftain remained in dealerships until 1958, when the Catalina became a stand-alone model. But even though it's a good-looking classic and it shared underpinnings with the mo...
1940s Chevy Blitz Military Truck Was Left to Rot in the Woods, Engine Refuses to Die
7 Oct 2022, 14:58 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When talking about WWII military trucks, we usually think about the GMC CCKW. Or its Studebaker twin, the US6. But North American automakers built tens of different vehicles during World War II. The Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) truck is one of t...
1965 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Racer Takes Monza by Storm, Sounds Vicious
7 Oct 2022, 11:34 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1953 with a rather mundane six-cylinder engine, the Chevrolet Corvette received a V8 in 1955. It was an important shift for the nameplate, one that turned into America's most iconic sports car. In addition, the Corvette also beca...
Family-Owned 1952 Chevrolet Deluxe Spent Decades in a Barn, Still Runs and Drives
6 Oct 2022, 14:47 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to 1950s Chevrolets, it's the Tri-Five Bel Air that gets all the attention. And that's not surprising because the Tri-Five is one of the most beautiful cars ever built. And it also comes with a V8. But Chevrolet had been mak...
Here's the Bugatti Divo Like You've Never Seen It Before: Racing Up a Mountain Pass
6 Oct 2022, 11:04 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When talking about the original Bugatti company, we usually think about two types of cars. There are luxury rigs like the Royale and Atlantic and race cars like the Type 35 and the 57G. Revived in the 1980s, Bugatti no longer makes full-size car...
Richard Petty's 1960 Plymouth Fury Up for Sale Again, Costs a Fortune
5 Oct 2022, 20:08 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Back in September 2021, the 1960 Plymouth Fury that Richard Petty raced in his early NASCAR days popped up for sale and failed to find a new home. Come October 2022, and the race-spec Mopar is up for grabs again. If you're looking to own a pie...
World's Lowest-Mileage Land Rover Series III Has Been Sitting in a Barn for 36 Years
5 Oct 2022, 14:01 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Finding a classic car in a barn is a good reason to celebrate no matter the nameplate or condition, but things become that much better when the vehicle in question is a low-mileage gem. That's because it doesn't happen very often. With...
Massive Car Collection Emerges After 40 Years in a Firehouse, Includes Rare Gems
5 Oct 2022, 10:51 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Seeing a classic car emerge out of a barn is quite spectacular, even if the said vehicle is rather mundane and in poor shape. But things become even better when we're talking about a full-blown collection of cars that are in outstanding condit...
Rare 1970 Dodge Challenger Desperately Needs a Plum Crazy Purple Paint Job, V8 Runs
4 Oct 2022, 20:01 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / While it joined the compact car market right on time with the Dart, Dodge was a bit late to the pony car market and didn't introduce the Challenger until late 1969. But the Challenger entered the market with a bang, selling almost 77,000 units...
1969 Pontiac GTO Gets Saved After 44 Years in a Junkyard, V8 Roars Back to Life
4 Oct 2022, 14:09 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Muscle car classics from the golden era are quite popular nowadays, and some of them can get quite expensive. Sadly, most of them are still rotting away in barns and junkyards, waiting for a second chance. And while some of them get saved in time, ...
1969 Lamborghini Miura Comes Out of the Barn, It's a Million-Dollar Time Capsule
4 Oct 2022, 12:29 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Barn finds are quite common in Europe and the U.S. nowadays, but most of the vehicles that come out of long-term storage are rather mundane. But from time to time we do get to see a million-dollar classic emerge into the light after a few decades. ...