Ciprian Florea
7,288 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.
1957 Ferrari 625 TRC Looks Like an Unlikely Barn Find, but There's a Catch
25 Apr 2022, 14:46 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / "Ferrari" and "barn find" are a couple of terms you rarely see together. And when you do, it's usually with a massive price, even if the Ferrari in question is wrecked beyond repair. That's because most classic Ferrari...
Secret Property Hides Small Collection of Abandoned Cars, Including a Porsche 924
25 Apr 2022, 13:41 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Many enthusiasts get upset when they see classic cars discovered in barns, but that's not the worst that can happen to a vehicle. While a barn provides some protection from the elements, most abandoned vehicles spend decades out in the open. A...
1958 Chevrolet Impala Looks Stunning, Hides Rare Surprise Under the Hood
25 Apr 2022, 11:29 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1958 as a range-topping version of the Bel Air, the Impala became a big hit. With more than 180,000 units sold that year, about 15% of total Chevrolet production, it helped the company become America's best-selling brand. Come...
Remembering the 1954 Kaiser Darrin, the Forgotten Chevrolet Corvette Competitor
24 Apr 2022, 17:00 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1953, the Chevrolet Corvette became widely known as "America's sports car" and developed into an icon by the late 1950s. But it wasn't the only sports car that emerged in the U.S. in the early 1950s. The Corvett...
Dodge Charger Pickup Truck Brings Back the Rampage in Sharp Rendering
23 Apr 2022, 18:57 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1957, the Ford Ranchero kickstarted the coupe utility segment in the U.S. And while Chevrolet joined the market with the El Camino in 1959, Dodge did not offer a similar product. It was only in 1982 that Dodge jumped on the coupe ...
Five Cars Made Popular by Movies
23 Apr 2022, 13:30 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Cars have been a big part of the movie industry since the early days of the automobile. And many films were created around cars, which became far more popular than they would have been without hitting the silver screen. From the Ford Mustang Bul...
1946 International Truck Ditches Utilitarian Roots, Becomes Chevy-Powered Hot Rod
22 Apr 2022, 19:27 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to classic light-duty trucks, we usually think about early-generation Ford F-Series models and Chevrolet haulers from the Advance Design and Task Force eras. But Ford and Chevy weren't the only companies that were making light-du...
Gorgeous 1957 Chevrolet Wagon Leaves the Barn After 23 Years, Gets First Wash Too
22 Apr 2022, 09:06 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / With almost six million units built from 1955 to 1957, it's not surprising that so many Chevrolet Tri-Fives are now populating junkyards and barns. But while many of them are in bad shape and too expensive to rescue, some examples spent decade...
Mint-Condition, One-of-22 1969 Dodge Hemi Daytona Going to Auction
21 Apr 2022, 19:38 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Whether we're talking about the original 1966 version or the second-gen model from the golden muscle car era, the Dodge Charger is an absolute legend. But there are a couple of things that further enhance its status: the 426 Hemi V8 and the ae...
1969 AMC SC/Rambler Is a Fabulous Garage Queen, V8 Purrs Like a Kitten
21 Apr 2022, 16:38 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Even though it failed to keep up with the Big Three in terms of sales and popularity, American Motors Corporation rolled out quite a few interesting cars in the 1960s. The SC/Rambler is one of them. Introduced in 1969, the final model year for the ...
Abandoned Forest Junkyard Is Packed With Classic Muscle Cars and Trucks
21 Apr 2022, 15:04 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / To most people, the junkyard is that place where old cars go when they die. To others, however, junkyards are more than just piles of scrap metal and rubber. They're a trip down the automotive memory lane and the place to be if you want to see...
1959 Chrysler Windsor Spent Decades Outside, Hides Rare Surprise Under the Hood
21 Apr 2022, 12:13 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1939, the Chrysler Windsor was for many years a more affordable version of the New Yorker. For this reason, it was offered with an inline-six engine until 1955, when Chrysler redesigned it and replaced the old six-cylinder with a V8. ...
This 1968 AMC Javelin Set a Speed Record at Bonneville, It Can Be Yours
20 Apr 2022, 20:12 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1967 as a replacement for the Rambler Marlin, the AMC Javelin took on the highly popular Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro in the pony car segment. It never became a hit with muscle car fanatics, but it scored a few important benchmar...
Remembering the 1969 COPO Camaro, Chevrolet's Secret Drag Racing Weapon
20 Apr 2022, 16:32 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Like any muscle car from the golden era, the Chevrolet Camaro has spawned a long list of limited-edition models. But none of them are as iconic and desirable as the COPO Camaro, which came to be in an era when Chevrolet wasn't allowed to offer...
Abandoned Chevrolet Camaro Race Car Comes Back to Life After 20 Years, Hits the Oval Track
20 Apr 2022, 12:23 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Early Chevrolet Camaros get abandoned as much as any classic car. Granted, you won't find a COPO ZL1 in a barn anytime soon, but junkyards are packed with mundane versions of the pony car. But this one's a bit different. Because it was ra...
Rare 1978 Plymouth Volare Kit Car Has Richard Petty Written All Over It
19 Apr 2022, 20:08 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1976 as a replacement for the Valiant and discontinued in 1980, the Plymouth Volare is nowhere near as iconic as its predecessor. But there's at least one reason why this car should be remembered. It's called the Volare Kit ...
This Plain-Looking 1965 Chevrolet Biscayne Is Actually a Big-Block Sleeper
19 Apr 2022, 17:32 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Produced from 1958 to 1975, the Biscayne is nowhere near as iconic as Chevrolet's other full-size cars from the era. But even though it's been overshadowed by the Impala, Caprice, and Bel Air, the Biscayne was just as appealing in terms o...
Slammed 1973 White Compact Truck Rides Lower Than a Supercar, Flaunts Chopped Top
19 Apr 2022, 15:34 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When talking about slammed vehicles, we usually think about passenger cars, but some enthusiasts have taken the idea up a notch by applying it to trucks. And I'm not talking about pickup trucks, because we see plenty of those. Nope, I'm t...
1970 Oldsmobile 442 W30 Parked for 45 Years Is a Rare, Rat-Infested Barn Find
19 Apr 2022, 13:52 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Most cars that populated the streets 50 years ago are now spending their retirement years in junkyards and barns. It's a bit sad, but that's what happens when both automobiles and technology evolve quite rapidly. But while most of these c...
This 1956 Chevrolet El Camino Is Actually a Butchered Nomad, Needs an LS Swap
18 Apr 2022, 20:17 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The coupe utility segment dates back to the 1930s when both Ford and Chevrolet offered cars with beds behind their seats, but it didn't become a thing until the late 1950s. That's when Ford launched the Ranchero (1957), followed by Chevro...