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.
1934 Ford Abandoned for 50 Years Gets Second Chance, Still in One Piece
23 Jul 2022, 13:00 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / While classic cars that have been kept in barns may still have a shot at being restored, those that spent decades outside are usually too far gone. But some still get saved thanks to dedicated enthusiasts. This 1934 Ford sedan is one of those cars....
1957 Chevrolet Nomad Is a Corona Yellow Time Capsule, It Can Be Yours
22 Jul 2022, 20:54 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1955 and discontinued in 1957, the Chevrolet Tri-Five is almost 70 years old as of 2022. And it remains one of the most beautiful cars Chevrolet ever made. It's also a design icon that spawned quite a few popular models. Chevy...
Pink 1970 Plymouth 'Cuda Spent Decades in Hiding, Big-Block Surprise Under the Hood
22 Jul 2022, 16:05 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / If you're a fan of classic Mopars, then you definitely dig Chrysler's "High Impact" color palette from the golden muscle car era. So what's your favorite hue? Is it the brightest green of them all that Dodge offered as G...
Meet the First Jaguar Sports Car Ever Built, Driven During the Battle of Britain
22 Jul 2022, 09:59 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Now famous for a variety of sports cars, Jaguar first rose to fame in the late 1940s, when the XK120 set a new speed record for production cars. What followed was a string of successful road-going and race-spec cars, including the C-Type, D-Type, E...
1945 Studebaker US6 Military Truck Takes First Drive in 20 Years, Mud Is Not an Issue
21 Jul 2022, 15:23 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / If you're into classic military trucks, I bet that the GMC CCKW is at the top of your list. At least when it comes to 6x6 beasts. But while the CCKW is indeed the most iconic hauler from World War II, I have a thing for its direct competitor, ...
Car Graveyard Hidden From Civilization Is Home to a Few Unexpected Gems
21 Jul 2022, 12:40 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / While some junkyards hide unexpected treasures in the form of rare and desirable classics, most graveyards are usually packed with mundane vehicles. The one you're about to see below is loaded with common cars that no one cares about, but it&#...
1953 Hudson Hornet Has Been Hiding in a Barn for Too Long, Still Fabulous
21 Jul 2022, 11:00 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / There's no shortage of barn-found classics in the U.S. nowadays, but most of them are rather common nameplates. Not that I don't love old Chevrolet Impalas, but I've seen one too many in recent months. Well, here's a car you won...
1963 Mercury Monterey Is a Rare Survivor With a Cool Feature, Also Pretty in Pink
20 Jul 2022, 20:59 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When we talk about classic cars made in the 1960s, we usually think about muscle cars. Because that's when the high-performance car market exploded in the U.S. But automakers were still busy making full-size vehicles and it didn't take lo...
1959 Chevrolet Corvette Emerges After 52 Years, Unexpected Surprise Under the Hood
20 Jul 2022, 15:18 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Barn finds are quite common nowadays, but most of the classics that emerge out of long-term storage are far from special. However, from time to time, people stumble upon spectacular cars that spent way too much time behind closed doors. This 1959 C...
1970 Plymouth 'Cuda AAR in Moulin Rouge Is "Cuda Girl's" Dream Car, Rare Too
20 Jul 2022, 12:29 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1970, the third-generation Plymouth Barracuda is arguably the hottest and most desirable iteration of the muscle car. The 1970 and 1971 iterations are especially popular with collectors, mostly because they were also available with th...
1970 Dodge Charger Was Left To Rot in a Field, Gets First Wash in 30 Years
19 Jul 2022, 20:00 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Seeing a fully restored classic car at a local show is one of the best automotive-related things out there. On the flip side, we have millions of vehicles rotting away across the U.S., and most of them will never be rescued. That's a sad fate ...
1953 Jaguar XK120 Emerges Out of the Barn After 50 Years, Engine Still Runs
19 Jul 2022, 13:51 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Most classic cars end up in barns due to mechanical issues or because the owner simply can't drive anymore. But some of them are parked to be restored. And more often than not, the restoration doesn't happen and the vehicle ends up spendi...
Judy Lilly's 1967 Plymouth Belvedere Is a Six-Figure Racer With a Raging HEMI V8
19 Jul 2022, 11:27 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced for the 1966 model year, the iconic 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) HEMI V8 made it into a long list of Mopars before it was discontinued at the end of 1971. How many were built? Well, there are no precise records, but most Mopar experts agre...
1968 Mercury Cougar 500 Sees Daylight After 31 Years, It's Rarer Than Hen's Teeth
18 Jul 2022, 20:38 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1967 as a premium take on the Ford Mustang, the Mercury Cougar went on to become the brand's highest-selling nameplate. Produced until 1997 and then again from 1999 to 2002, the Cougar is also the second longest-running Mercury m...
1954 Chrysler New Yorker Spent 38 Years in the Woods, Original HEMI Still Under the Hood
18 Jul 2022, 18:14 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1938 as a version of the Imperial, the Chrysler New Yorker became a stand-alone model in 1940. Like most cars from the era, the New York was discontinued from 1942 to 1946 (during WWII), but it then soldiered on until 1996, becoming t...
Slammed 1948 Kenworth Truck Rides Lower Than a Supercar, Flaunts Massive Pipes
18 Jul 2022, 13:25 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Have you noticed how crazy the tuning industry has gotten in recent years? To the point where you can make ludicrous modifications to any type of vehicle? Yup, you can now Tesla-swap a 1960 Chevrolet Impala, you can strap a jet engine to a bike,...
Secret Mopar Yard Is Packed With Dodge Chargers and Plymouth Road Runners, All Rusty
18 Jul 2022, 11:44 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to derelict classics, you'll find most of them in junkyards or private backyards hidden from the public eye. But while junkyards are usually home to vehicles from all brands, backyard "collections" tend to focus on cert...
1952 Ford F-1 Truck Gets First Wash in Decades, Becomes Stunning Survivor
16 Jul 2022, 14:18 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / America's best-selling vehicle and pickup truck for decades now, the Ford F-Series, can brag about a 75-year-old legacy as of 2022. Because it all started in late 1947 when the first-gen F-Series arrived to replace the truck based on the compa...
Matt LeBlanc's "Unsellable" Porsche 930 Slantnose Has a New Owner, Gets Dry Ice Cleaning
15 Jul 2022, 17:32 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / While it's not as valuable and sought-after as the early 911, the Porsche 930 Turbo is getting a lot of love today. On the other hand, the Slantnose version that Porsche made in the 1980s isn't getting as much attention as it deserves. ...
This Compilation of Rare and Legendary Chevrolet Corvettes Will Make Your Day
15 Jul 2022, 14:14 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Are you a Chevrolet Corvette fan? Are you into concept cars, experimental prototypes, and rare automobiles? If the answer is yes, then you're about to have a great day. Thanks to the coolest compilation of rare and legendary Corvettes out ther...