Meet Alex Manos of Beverly Hills Car Club

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Manos.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up in London where there’s a healthy respect for history and classic cars. Both my parents drove vintage cars, an E-Type and a Volvo 1800 S. But there was always a glance towards the American cars as well. They took up a lot of road space and were grand and colorful.

When I came to Los Angeles, I fell in love with a 1962 Lincoln Continental with the suicide doors. I took the car apart and spent hours, days, and most of my weekends rebuilding it piece by piece which I loved doing. I wrestled with not knowing what to do and knowing exactly what to do, but at times, was limited by the accumulative costs.

I loved watching it slowly come together and go from a car which was stripped down to the metal and then gradually assembles it and creates a great looking car. I felt a strong connection to the process of it. When I drove it around LA people stopped me and would ask about it.

It was exciting to see people show a lot of interest in the car and it got me thinking. I sold the car and bought another one from the proceeds. Celebrities would stop me as well and would ask me to buy the cars I drove, and before I knew it, I was setting up the Beverly Hills Car Club as it seemed a natural segue.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like most things, there are smooth times and not so smooth times. And of course, the tough days are the ones that you hope you can look upwards in hindsight when you start out its trial and error. The bigger the risk, the bigger payout but it can also be the bigger failure. And sometimes the error can be an expensive one.

You get up, dust yourself down and get moving forward again. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. You can’t stay in the failure as that’s not an option. The days can be grueling when you start at 6:00 AM every morning and finish around 10:00 PM at night seven days a week, but the love of seeing these cars keeps you going and it fuels the fire within.

The difficulties you confront is when you buy a car, and it turns out not to be what you think it is and you have to take stock of it and start again. For instance, I purchased a car which arrived in boxes, and it reduced the bank balance by $30k in a nanosecond. Not only that, it took a further six months to put it together. It was a nightmare.

Beverly Hills Car Club – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am at the helm of Beverly Hills Car Club which is one of the biggest European classic car companies in the world. Running the company is like running a marathon, and you have to be aware of weather and marketing conditions at all times.

And you have to know about the current market as well as paying attention to what will be the trend in 10 or 20 year’s time. You have to do the research, put everything you have into it and hope it will pay off. Like any trend, it moves upwards and downwards, and you follow suit.

There’s a beauty and a rhythm to running a company, and with close to 50 staff you have to be available on all fronts and understand the pace of things. It makes me proud to see what we have achieved as a company and as a team.

We are proud of the fact that we have managed to become a world leader in the European classic car market with our excellent customer service. Another one of our biggest selling points is that we sell our cars at wholesale prices.

What’s your favorite memory from childhood?
It’s an English tradition to go motoring on a Sunday, and I would love every chance I got to go in my father’s E-Type Jag.

My mother had the same car Roger Moor drove in The Saint television series, the 1964 Volvo 1800 S which was in a cream exterior and red leather interior.

It was a well-known car at the time because of the tv show, and it certainly got a lot of attention.

Image Credit:
Devin Pedde

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