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.
The Story of the 1970 Pontiac GTO Humbler, the Car That Angered GM's Management
20 Mar 2022, 10:30 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1963, the Pontiac GTO is often credited as the nameplate that popularized the muscle car segment. That may not be true according to some sources, but the GTO is now a legendary classic that has quite a few stories to tell. I could ...
Remembering the Plymouth GTX, the Gentleman's Muscle Car
19 Mar 2022, 17:00 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The muscle car war was in full swing in the mid-1960s, both in dealerships and at the drag strip. But as intermediate cars were becoming increasingly faster and more powerful, some customers wanted them with the nice features usually found in full-...
Lambo Countach Rescued From a Garage Is a Rare 5000 QV With 25th Anniversary Parts
18 Mar 2022, 20:35 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / A rare and expensive classic, the Lamborghini Countach isn't the kind of vehicle you'd expect to find in a barn or a junkyard. But as we saw back in February 2022, it can happen. This 1988 Countach isn't exactly a barn find, but it s...
Mysterious 1970 Plymouth GTX Claims Hemi Heritage, Priced To Match
18 Mar 2022, 18:18 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1966 as a "gentleman's muscle car," the Plymouth GTX topped the Belvedere range for six years. And while it looked like a Road Runner on the outside, it came with premium appointments on the inside. The engine lineup al...
Frog-Eyed 1974 AMC Matador X Hits the Drag Strip, It's Quicker Than You Think
18 Mar 2022, 14:45 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1971 as a replacement for the Rebel, the AMC Matador was mostly advertised as a family car. But it also spawned a two-door hardtop with up to 330 horsepower as a competitor for the dying muscle car market. However, it took AMC some th...
1971 Datsun 240Z Parked on a Field Is a Mystery, Needs a New Home
17 Mar 2022, 17:08 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1969, the Datsun 240Z was a breakthrough for Nissan. Inspired by the European sports cars of the era, the Z series went on to become an icon of the Japanese car industry and soldiered on (with brief pauses) to this day. Come 2022 and ...
Massive Junkyard Is Home to 10,000 Classic Cars, Rare Gems Included
17 Mar 2022, 15:31 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Back in 2021, we showed you a cool virtual tour of Old Car City USA in White, Georgia. Home to more than 4,000 vehicles, it's described by its owner as the "world's largest known classic car junkyard." But it's not, because...
Historic Ford Anglia Gasser Discovered After 50 Years in Hiding, Still in One Piece
17 Mar 2022, 13:10 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / An iconic car on British soil, the Ford Anglia arrived in the U.S. in 1948. Not surprisingly, the tiny vehicle failed to make an impression in a country obsessed with powerful full-size automobiles. But its compact size and lightweight construction...
1977 Dodge Power Wagon Is a True Time Capsule, Needs a New Home
16 Mar 2022, 20:25 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The Dodge Power Wagon started life as a military-style truck back in 1945, but Chrysler used the name beyond the full-size hauler. The moniker popped up on Dodge's smaller truck, the D Series, in the 1970s, when the company rolled out an impre...
1976 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser Gets First Wash in 21 Years, Reveals Cool Patina
16 Mar 2022, 15:51 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / I know station wagons are no longer in fashion in 2022, but I have a thing for large and boxy grocery getters from the 1970s and 1980s. It goes well with my fetish for Hudsons, Studebakers, and Edsels. I know, I'm a weird guy. The kind that en...
1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Emerges Out of Abandoned Building After 30 Years
16 Mar 2022, 14:00 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / While not as rare as the Shelby GT350 and GT500, the first-generation Mustang Mach 1 is now a desirable collectible, especially if it comes with one of the larger Cobra Jet engines under the hood. But lesser Mach 1s get a lot of love too. This one,...
Supercharged, Lifted 1969 Chevrolet Blazer Will Make You Forget About the Ford Bronco
16 Mar 2022, 11:45 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1969 to compete with the Ford Bronco, the Chevrolet K5 Blazer quickly became as popular and iconic as its FoMoCo rival. The nameplate soldiered on in various forms until 2005. Just like the Bronco, the Blazer was revived in the 21st c...
1970 Dodge Charger Daytona Clone Looks Spotless, Flexes Rebuilt 440 V8
15 Mar 2022, 21:23 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / One of two famous "winged warriors," the Dodge Charger Daytona was introduced in 1969 as a homologation car for the NASCAR series. With only 503 units built for just one model year, the Charger Daytona is now a valuable and sought-after c...
1965 Ford Mustang P-51 Speedster Is a 600-HP Tribute to America's Iconic WWII Fighter
15 Mar 2022, 16:07 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Ford Mustang-based restomods are quite popular nowadays and there's no shortage of builds based on early 1965 models. But you don't get to see speedster conversions very often. Here's a unique drop-top that's also a tribute to t...
This Massive Junkyard Is Chevrolet Bel Air and Impala Heaven, All Rotting Away
15 Mar 2022, 13:21 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The Bel Air and the Impala were two of Chevrolet's most popular nameplates in the 1950s and 1960s, respectively. GM built and sold millions of them and that's one of the reasons why many of them are still on the road today. On the fli...
Abandoned 1975 Bricklin SV-1 Gets First Wash in Years, Becomes Rare Survivor
14 Mar 2022, 20:38 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Often listed among the worst cars of all time, the Bricklin SV-1 is now a rare classic. And many of the examples that have been locked up (or forgotten) in storage are coming back into the light. Back in November 2021, we saw a Suntan version come ...
Snoop Dogg's 1958 Lincoln Continental Shows Off Unique Features in Detailed Walkaround
14 Mar 2022, 14:53 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Just like every celebrity, Snoop Dogg is also into cars. But while most of them go for modern, limited-edition supercars, the rapper is more into old-school American rigs of the Cadillac and Pontiac variety. But he also owns a unique 1958 Lincoln C...
1970 Plymouth Satellite Was Left to Rot in the Woods, Comes Back to Life After 40 Years
14 Mar 2022, 13:38 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to early 1970s Plymouth nameplates, it's the Barracuda, Road Runner, and GTX that get all the attention. But the Satellite was just as impressive. Sure, it was no longer the range-topping trim of the Belvedere line, a spot taken ...
Triumph TR6 Hits the Drag Strip With Nasty 4-Cyl Surprise, Destroys V8 Competition
14 Mar 2022, 11:57 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / A tiny sports car built by Triumph Motor Company from 1968 to 1976, the TR6 isn't the first vehicle you think about when talking about drag racing. Far from surprising given that American gearheads had tens of muscle cars to choose from back i...
Five Underrated Muscle Cars You Should Know About
13 Mar 2022, 16:30 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The golden muscle car era spawned an impressive number of performance vehicles. But while some have become prized collectibles, others have been overshadowed by their more iconic rivals and siblings. Here are five underrated muscle cars that don�...