Ciprian Florea
7,289 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.
1973 Dodge Dart Spent 29 Years in a Barn, Engine Refuses To Die
27 Mar 2022, 13:10 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Originally introduced as a full-size car in 1960, the Dodge Dart became a midsize vehicle in 1962 and was further downsized to a compact in 1963. It joined the muscle car was in the late 1960s, when it received Mopar's most powerful engines, i...
The Story of the Plymouth Arrow, the Compact Truck You Never Knew Existed
26 Mar 2022, 17:50 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When talking about Plymouth, we usually think about muscle cars like the Barracuda, the Road Runner, and the Superbird. Or about its role in the development of the U.S. compact car with the Valiant. We definitely don't think about pickup truck...
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Has Been Hiding for 35 Years, It's an Unmolested Gem
25 Mar 2022, 21:15 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / With some five million units built from 1955 to 1957, the Chevrolet Tri-Five was one of the most successful automobiles of the mid-1950s. Come 2022, and the range-topping Bel Air version is a sought-after and expensive collectible. Chevrolet off...
1969 Plymouth Road Runner Sitting in the Middle of Nowhere Is a Sad Sight, Gets Saved
25 Mar 2022, 15:39 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1968 to bridge the gap between the entry-level Belvedere and the upscale GTX, the Plymouth Road Runner joined the muscle car wars with Mopar's hottest V8 engines at the time. And it became far more popular than the GTX. Come 2...
Real Racing 3 Adds Koenigsegg Jesko, New Photo Mode for iOS Users
25 Mar 2022, 11:06 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Firemonkeys Studios just announced a new update for Real Racing 3, bringing three brand-new cars to the mobile racing game. Update 10.3 also includes an all-new Photo Mode+ feature for iOS users. The Koenigsegg Jesko is the main highlight of thi...
1948 Chevrolet Stylemaster Is a Stunning Barn Find, Gets First Wash in 46 Years
24 Mar 2022, 16:54 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / One of Chevrolet's first post-WWII cars, the Stylemaster arrived in 1946 as a replacement for the Master Deluxe. It was sold as the company's base model and remained in production, alongside the Fleetmaster, until 1948. Come 2022 and the ...
Rare 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Convertible Spent 40 Years in a Barn, Gets Second Chance
24 Mar 2022, 15:02 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Originally introduced as a two-door hardtop version of the Cranbrook in 1951, the Plymouth Belvedere became a stand-alone model in 1954. Production lasted until 1970 and included six major updates, but the 1957-to-1959 Belvedere is generally regard...
In 1899, This Torpedo-Shaped EV Became the First Car To Hit 100 KPH
24 Mar 2022, 12:53 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / It's 2022 and electric cars are nowhere near as fast as their gasoline-powered counterparts in terms of top speed, but things were quite different more than 100 years ago. Back in 1899, an electric car became the first automobile to exceed 100...
This Unique 1962 Chevrolet Corvette Fuelie With Racing Pedigree Needs a New Home
23 Mar 2022, 21:32 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced almost 70 years ago as of 2022, the Chevrolet Corvette is not only an iconic sports car, but it can also brag about an extensive racing career that goes back to the early days of the C1. The first-gen Corvette hit the race track as early...
1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Is the Ultimate Sleeper, Dynos 700+ Horsepower
23 Mar 2022, 14:46 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / If you're a fan of muscle cars and haven't heard of the Factory Appearing Stock Tire (FAST) Racing Series, you should definitely check it out. Because that's where all the cool classics hit the drag strip in search of quarter-mile gl...
Own F1 History: Nigel Mansell Is Selling His Ferrari and Williams Race Cars
23 Mar 2022, 13:16 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Are you in search of an adrenaline rush and can't decide whether you should buy a Bugatti Chiron or a Ferrari SF90 Stradale? Well, how about a race-winning Formula One car? If you're into that, Nigel Mansell is selling two of them. The...
1968 Ford Torino With 427 Stroker Is What Restomod Dreams Are Made Of
23 Mar 2022, 12:01 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1968 as an upscale, sportier version of the Fairlane, the Torino is one of the most badass fastbacks from the golden muscle car era. But it's also one of those beefed-up intermediates that doesn't get as much attention as it...
Pink 1970 Plymouth GTX Is an All-Original Beauty, Costs a Fortune
22 Mar 2022, 21:09 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / What's your favorite part about the golden muscle car era? Is it the big engines? The massive amount of performance cars that were built in less than a decade? I'd probably go with race-bred engines like the 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) Hem...
1970 Chevrolet Corvette 454 Gets First Wash in Years, Becomes Stunning Survivor
22 Mar 2022, 16:04 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to exterior design, the second-generation Corvette is often regarded as the most beautiful iteration of Chevrolet's sports car. I also think the C2 is downright gorgeous, but I'm also a big fan of the C3, especially the earl...
1960 Ford Starliner Comes Out of Storage After 50 Years, It's a Family-Owned Survivor
22 Mar 2022, 14:11 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Back in October 2021, we introduced you to an extremely rare 1960 Ford Starliner that was sitting in a garage for 50 years. The car has since been taken out of storage and recent footage shows it on display at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals....
Watch and Hear Seven McLaren F1s Being Unloaded From a Truck in Paris
22 Mar 2022, 11:35 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it was introduced in 1992, the McLaren F1 became the world's fastest and most innovative production car. Come 2022 and the auto industry is packed with notably quicker machines, but the F1 still shines as one of the greatest vehicles ever...
1970 Checker Aerobus Spent Years in a Junkyard, Now It's a Fancy Land Yacht
21 Mar 2022, 20:02 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Produced for more than two decades with minor updates, the Checker Marathon is America's most iconic taxi. Praised for its durability under heavy use, the Marathon is now a collectors' item. Granted, the sedan is far from fancy compared t...
Abandoned Property Hides Massive Collection of Classic Cars, Including a Helicopter
21 Mar 2022, 14:56 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When talking about abandoned cars, we usually think about junkyards. Because that's where owners usually take their derelict vehicles when they want to get rid of them. But quite a few vehicles also spend their retirement years on abandoned pr...
Mysterious 1972 Dodge Bengal Charger Could Be One of Only Two in Existence
21 Mar 2022, 12:31 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Built in only 50 units to celebrate the Cincinnati Bengals' first year in the American Football League, the 1968 Dodge Bengal Charger is one of the rarest iterations of the iconic muscle car. But did you know Tom Kneer Dodge offered a similar ...
Buick Pickup Truck Rendering Looks So Cool You'd Want to Buy One
21 Mar 2022, 09:57 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Like most U.S. automakers, Buick also offered light commercial vehicles, including trucks, in the early 20th century. But unlike Chevrolet and Ford, Buick stopped making haulers in the 1920s. This rendering is proof that Buick should offer a pickup...