SPECIALIST: BEVERLY HILLS CAR CLUB

Alex Manos runs car club heaven, or Beverley Hills Car Club to be precise. Out of 130,000 sq ft he stocks over 350 cars at any one time and a third ofthose are Porsches, as we discover...

Porsches soldas seen in LA

hobby and obvious passion. Not so many years after he began driving, he bought an older Lincoln Continental that was generally solid and mechanically sound, but looked a little needy; he cut, buffed, polished and otherwise nursed it back to outstanding condition, and then of course someone wanted to buy it. And then one car became two, two became four and you can guess the rest.

Born in London of Greek descent, he was living in a Beverly Hills, California apartment and decided that would be the name of his classic car business. Other than the few cars he sold from the apartment’s dining room table, he never opened a customer location in Beverly Hills, instead in nearby Whittier, then moved shop to rented former new car dealership space in Downey. He started there with one garage bay, then took more and more of the car store property, until he quickly outgrew that.

He’s since purchased a previously somewhat rundown but sturdy warehouse

complex in an area of East Los Angeles called Boyle Heights, with about 130,000 square feet under roof in which to house inventory of classic, collector and late model sports cars for sale.

“When I went to the city for building permits and licenses, they couldn’t believe that I wanted to put a car dealership in this old warehouse space because, in their minds, car dealers were big open lots with flags and balloons flying, and dancing animals around. I explained to them that my business marketing model relies heavily on the internet and thus driveby trafficwasn’t of prime concern.”

The buildings’ prior use had been as set storage for Hollywood; the massive high ceilinged spaces often filled with stages, sets and props used for television; “It was pretty awful inside, dirty, and all the beautiful red brickwork and wood ceiling beams covered or painted over; it took considerable effort and expense to sand and waterblast everything back to natural plus a fair amount of graffiti removal.” More remodel plans remain in the works, although he has no intent to gloss over the urban warehouse nature of the property. There are two showrooms, a shop area, detail bays, an office building and huge “spaces for inventory. In spite of the “Car Club” moniker, BHCC isn’t a club you have to join (just as it isn’t actually located in Beverly Hills), BHCC is a buyer/seller, pure and simple, and will play any role in a transaction. They’ll buy or sell a car straight out, take trades, and work multi vehicle, multi principle transactions. All cars are sold in pre-owned, as is condition, with no warranty.

Alex comments that BHCC’S normal inventory level is around 350 cars and perhaps a third of that are Porsches on any given day. He sells more Porsches than any other brand, although does good business in Mercedes-benz (particularly SL roadsters), and stocks a yards-long row of E-types, plus all manner of etcetera inventory that he stumbles upon, is offered him, or taken in trade: A few old American trucks, Ford Mustangs, VW Type 2 vans, a Fiat Dino here, a Citroen SM there. Lots of Rolls and Bentley. The company claims to

BHCC is a buyer/seller. All cars are sold in preowned, as is condition

be among the world’s largest resellers of European classic and collector cars.

Condition and quality runs the gamut from barnfinds and parts cars to some very clean and rare machines. This allows Manos to offer inventory from the very reasonable to the more expensive, and “sometimes, people don’t know what they want, they may come in to look at one thing, and ‘discover’ something that appeals to them that they didn’t previously think of.” He also feels it’s critical to keep the inventory turning and fresh.

There are also many ‘project’ level and parts cars, but plenty of pearls as well: Most of the Porsche inventory is 911s from all eras, plus a handful are recent watercooled cars, and always a smattering of top shelf 356s. Manos confirms that chrome bumper era 911s remain white hot in the market right now. Particularly rare is the 1972 911E in Aubergene we spot in the large “Porsche room” – not everyone’s top colour choice, but being a ’72 withth e muchdesired exterior oil tank filler door, and being a fuelinjected ‘E’ means this car will sell soon and for good money. A white over grey 964 Cab, with less than 70,000 original miles, awaits its next al fresco loving owner. One heartbreaker is the silver 1973 911T Targa, with low original miles and matching numbers that hit a telephone pole and is now a couple of feet shorter in the front. Fixing it will be a huge undertaking, yet breaking it for parts seems a crime.

There is a handful of terminally rusty 911 parts and project cars scattered here and about. Plus 914s on sale, too, for which the market has expanded considerably. A screaming yellow Gt2-looking 993 racer also catches our eye.

Manos is pleased to serve a very international client base; he regularly buys and sells cars globally – such is the magic of the internet. His inventory comes from all over and a variety of sources; he doesn’t often buy at auction, now and again picking up cars from other dealers for whom they just don’t fit; some are cars he just spots here and there, but a great majority arrive

There are also many ‘project’ level cars, but plenty of pearls as well

over the internet, telephone or email. A particularly handsome black ’91 Turbo was purchased from a local who called Alex for a direct cash sale. “For some people, it’s a security thing – they don’t want strangers knowing where they live and that they have special car(s) there, or they just don’t want to go through the hassle of marketing and giving test drives, so with us it’s quick and clean, we do the paperwork, they get a check and it’s done.” He’s since sold the rare 964 on to an international Porsche aficionado client.

BHCC doesn’t do ground up restorations, but has on occasion finished the uncompleted projects of others, and does a certain amount and level of repair and mechanical work on site, as demanded by the needs of the inventory. We asked about his most unusual Porsche story; “so far I’ve only ever had one 924. It was a rough early car with needs, and I think I bought it for like $800. I figured it would be good to have on hand so I could price it low and be able to advertise “Porsches starting at $1500” and I thought it would be a good car for a young first time sports car buyer fix up with their dad or something.” The car stayed welded to his warehouse floor for several years, and he just couldn’t move it. “There’s nothing wrong with good 924s, but this was just the wrong one and failed to catch anyone’s eye. One day, a guy offered me $750 and I was just tired of looking at it so I took the deal and a few pennies loss.”

Manos also maintains a thoughtful pricing philosophy: “there’s no doubt, I’m in this business to make profit and a living, but when possible, I like to sell a car on leaving a measure of equity in it for the new owner. If he feels he got a great deal, or has made a little money when he drives away from here, then, of course, he’s more likely to come back again, or refer his friends – word of mouth referral is critically important to us.” PW

I like to leave a level of equity ina car for the new owner