cars<\/a> he\u2019d longed to own, including Willie Nelson\u2019s Mercedes-Benz 230 SL convertible, Manos was hooked. \u201cI quit everything else and went in full time,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\tTwo decades later, he\u2019s following the same template. He buys the cars he loves and sells them to Hollywood\u2019s elite. His aspirationally named Beverly Hills Car Club (which is actually in East L.A.) is stocked with 650 vintage cars. \u201cWe sell a lot of Porsche 911s, Mercedes SLs, Jaguar E-Types, Ferrari 308s, Corvettes, 1960s Mustangs and Thunderbirds,\u201d he says, ticking off a checklist heavy on readily recognizable icons, mainly convertibles, of course.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile these vehicles are Manos\u2019 bread and butter \u2014 \u201cWe always have five or six in stock,\u201d he says \u2014 his A-list clients have more outr\u00e9 taste.<\/p>\n
\n\tHe sold Justin Bieber a 1936 Rolls-Royce 20\/25 Sedanca Deville, a gangster-looking four-door. \u201cHe was shooting a music video down the street, and he poked his head in and just fell in love. He was like, \u2018I\u2019ve got to have it. Do you take credit cards?\u2019 \u201d (They settled on a wire transfer.)<\/p>\n
\n\tJason Momoa bought a 1929 Rolls-Royce 20 HP Doctor\u2019s Coupe, a staid two-door that clashes with the actor\u2019s beastly onscreen persona. \u201cWhen I was 19, we actually were in the same acting class,\u201d Manos says. \u201cTwenty years later, my sales manager put a call through saying, \u2018Aquaman wants a Rolls.\u2019 He was drawn to it because it\u2019s something unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tJason Momoa\u2019s 1929 Rolls-Royce 20 HP Doctor\u2019s Coupe. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Alex Manos\/BHCC; Laurent KOFFEL\/Gamma-Rapho\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\n\tTyler, the Creator purchased a 1981 Rolls-Royce Camargue, an angular, oft-derided formal coupe with an odd-duck cult following. \u201cTyler had been looking for a nice Camargue,\u201d Manos says. \u201cHe wanted to use it in a music video.\u201d (Spot it in \u201cThe Hillbillies\u201d with Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar.)<\/p>\n
\n\tColdplay bassist Guy Berryman acquired a 1967 Ferrari 330GT from Manos. A savvy collector known for his meticulous pre-purchase research, the bassist paid $90,000 for the louche grand tourer in 2013. A few years later, Berryman bragged to Manos that he had flipped it at auction for $300,000.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tThe 1936 Rolls-Royce 20\/25 Sedanca Deville that Manos sold to Justin Bieber. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Alex Manos\/BHCC; ANGELA WEISS\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tManos with a 1966 Ferrari 330GT, similar to the one he sold Coldplay\u2019s Guy Berryman.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Alex Manos\/BHCC; Laurent KOFFEL\/Gamma-Rapho\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\n\tNot every celebrity closes the deal. Hilary Swank brought her dad to test-drive classic American muscle cars but left without buying one. Ben Affleck eyed a 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom on Manos\u2019 website, but by the time he popped by, it had sold. And Seth Rogen wanted a \u201990s Porsche 911 but couldn\u2019t operate a manual transmission. (Driving classics on The Studio, Manos says, he\u2019s since learned.)<\/p>\n
\n\tManos drives a 1960 Mercedes 300 SL roadster, a $500,000 to $750,000 convertible favored in its day by Tony Curtis, Clark Gable and Elvis Presley. But he dreams of one day owning a Ferrari 275 GTB, a swoopy, $2 million-$3 million 1960s masterpiece beloved by contemporary celebrities including Steve McQueen, Miles Davis, Jane Fonda and Clint Eastwood.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tTyler, the Creator\u2019s 1981 Rolls-Royce Camargue.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Alex Manos\/BHCC; Christian Vierig\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\n\tDespite moving more than 50 cars a month, Manos regrets selling some vehicles, especially those that would later appreciate. \u201cSo many,\u201d he says, laughing. \u201cBut I don\u2019t want to think about them, otherwise I start getting upset.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tManos among his wares in Showroom 1 of Beverly Hills Car Club. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Alex Manos\/BHCC<\/p>\n
\n\tThis story appeared in the Nov. 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2002, Alex Manos had achieved his dream. The L.A.-based Wilhelmina model was gleefully driving his slab-sided 1961…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":399803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,419,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-399802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-cars","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115600841725676007","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}