Ciprian Florea
6,842 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.
Low-Mileage Jaguar E-Type Parked for 45 Years Is a Sad Sight
27 Nov 2023, 15:18 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1961 as a replacement for the XK150, the E-Type remained in production through 1974 and became Jaguar's most iconic car. It's also regarded as one of the most beautiful vehicles ever made. But even though it's a soug...
World's Only 1971 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Is a Stunning Piece of Muscle Car History
24 Nov 2023, 16:10 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Launched in April 1964, the Ford Mustang needed just a few months to hit the race track. The Shelby GT350 was among the first to tackle circuits across the US, but non-Shelby ponies also found their way into the motorsport scene. Following a bit...
1970 Plymouth Road Runner Promo Car Has a Big Bird Coming out of the Air Grabber
24 Nov 2023, 14:34 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Whenever I see a Plymouth Road Runner, I feel the urge to look under the hood. That's because I'm always eager to learn more about the drivetrain so I can figure out how rare it is. Not that I don't care about Road Runners with the e...
1971 Plymouth 'Cuda Flaunts Rare Luggage Rack and Shaker Hood Atop 340 V8
24 Nov 2023, 12:30 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Redesigned for the third generation, the 1970 Plymouth Barracuda sold like hotcakes, moving nearly 49,000 units. But sales dropped to just 16,500 examples in 1971, mainly due to the high insurance rates for muscle cars and incoming fuel economy and...
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS Parked for 30 Years Is Amazingly Original
23 Nov 2023, 23:01 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to the second-generation Chevrolet Chevelle (1968-1972), everyone goes crazy over the 1970 SS 454 LS6. And I totally get it. This model came with Chevrolet's meanest V8 from the golden muscle car era. Loaded with high-performanc...
1970 Plymouth Superbird Barn Find Hides Yellow Surprise Under Petty Blue Paint
23 Nov 2023, 15:54 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Plymouth's take on the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona, the Superbird arrived in 1970 and stormed both showrooms and the NASCAR circuit. Even though it looks identical to its corporate sibling, the Superbird had a few different features, most notab...
Unique 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Crash Test Vehicle Flexes Original 440 Six-Barrel
23 Nov 2023, 12:43 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Did you ever wonder what vehicles were used to research highway traffic safety back in the day? Yup, it's the kind of thing no one really cares about, me included. But a while ago, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that a muscle car played a...
Abandoned 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Emerges With a Numbers-Matching Surprise
22 Nov 2023, 21:41 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / 1969 was a great year for the Ford Mustang. Sure, sales dropped below 300,000 units for the first time since 1964, but Ford had no fewer than six performance versions on offer that year. In addition to the GT and the Shelby GT350 and GT500 model...
One-of-None 1973 Dodge Challenger T/A Is a Stroked Trickster
22 Nov 2023, 15:28 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Built from 1969 through 1974, the first-generation Dodge Challenger wasn't just late to the muscle car party but also short-lived. However, it remained in showrooms long enough to spawn a few noteworthy interactions and become a legendary clas...
Wild Chevrolet Vega Rocks 650 Horsepower and Wheelie Bars, Still Road-Legal
22 Nov 2023, 13:36 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1970 as a replacement for the Corvair, the Vega was Chevrolet's first-ever subcompact. Offered in a variety of body styles through 1977, it was quite the popular rig, with two million units sold over seven model years. But the...
MCACN 2023: Barn Find Display Tour Shows Unrestored and Super Rare Muscle Cars
21 Nov 2023, 14:47 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / If you're a fan of classic muscle cars, then the annual Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN) is arguably the best show you can attend. It's packed with iconic rigs from the golden era, and it even includes a spectacular Barn Finds &a...
Seafoam Turquoise 1969 Plymouth GTX Hides Rare 426 HEMI Under Air Grabber Hood
21 Nov 2023, 11:34 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Before introducing the affordable Road Runner in 1968, Plymouth took the premium muscle car route with the GTX in late 1966. A competitor for the first-generation Dodge Charger, the GTX was fancier than the average muscle car but delivered outstand...
1956 Packard Patrician Parked for 45 Years Is an Incredible Low-Mileage Surprise
21 Nov 2023, 00:15 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Established in 1899, Packard was one of America's greatest luxury automobile companies. The carmaker gained global notoriety in the 1920s and, unlike other luxury automakers, survived the Great Depression of the 1930s. The end of WW2 found Pac...
Pink 1969 Dodge Super Bee Is a Mysterious One-of-One Gem
20 Nov 2023, 19:23 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / There are many things that can make a classic car rare. The production number is obviously the first thing that comes to mind. However, super common nameplates can also become scarce gems with the right options. And often enough, a classic can be r...
World's Only 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 390 With a Factory Sunroof Comes out of Hiding
20 Nov 2023, 14:11 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced for the 1969 model year, the Mach 1 was one of no fewer than six performance Mustangs available at the time. Sold alongside the GT, the Boss 429 and 302, and a pair of Shelby models, the Mach 1 became hugely popular. Specifically, Ford s...
Ferrari-Powered 1967 Fiat Dino Gets First Wash in Decades, Becomes Beautiful Survivor
19 Nov 2023, 21:41 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / If you're a fan of classic Ferraris, you probably already know most of them are very expensive, to the point where they can cost millions of dollars. But if owning a vintage Ferrari is on your bucket list, you don't necessarily have to go...
1971 Dodge Charger R/T in Rare High-Impact Color Hides 440 Six-Pack Under the Hood
18 Nov 2023, 23:35 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Introduced in 1966 as a fancied-up fastback, the Dodge Charger wasn't particularly popular at first. Sure, the company delivered 37,344 units that year, but it was a low number compared to other performance vehicles available at the time. Howe...
Rare 1961 AMC Metropolitan Parked for 50 Years Is Not Your Average Barn Find
18 Nov 2023, 14:46 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The 1950s are widely regarded as one of the golden decades of the US automotive market. The cars became bigger and more luxurious, while V8 engines grew larger and more potent. Both the carmakers and the buyers were following the "bigger is be...
1960 Chevrolet Biscayne Wagon Barn Find Is an Ex-Government Unicorn
17 Nov 2023, 15:31 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Full-size cars will probably be replaced entirely by SUVs by the end of the decades, but these rigs were quite popular back in the day. Specifically, Chevrolet sold more than a million full-size automobiles annually from 1955 through 1965. That...
1939 Ford Truck Abandoned for 65 Years Gets Rescued, Flathead V8 Agrees To Run
17 Nov 2023, 11:51 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / In continuous production since 1948, the Ford F-Series is arguably America's most successful pickup truck. The new haulers are selling like hotcakes, while the early generations are now desirable classics. However, the company began making pic...