Sam and Emily Mann are friends of mine from the “old country”—New Jersey. They spend much of their winters in an exquisitely renovated home off of Malibu Canyon Road. In fact, they are the ones who turned me on to Malibu in the first place. I never saw a lot of them back in Jersey, but we get together quite often here in Malibu. Life is strange that way.
They are not famous for being my friends, but they are famous. If you are interested in pre-war, one-of-a-kind vintage cars (and many folks in Malibu are), you have more than likely heard of the Manns. They are among a select few collectors who have won Best in Show at the Concours d”Elegance in Pebble Beach four times. That is like winning Best in Show four times at the Westminster Dog Show if you are into dogs, or winning the World Series four times if you are into baseball. I think you get the idea.
The Manns have won Concours D’Elegance with a 1932 Chrysler LeBaron, a 1938 Delage D8-120 de Villars Cabriolet, a 1934 Voisin C15 ETS Saliot Roadster and a 1938 Delage Portout Aerodynamic Coupe. I haven’t a clue as to what these cars are, but the experts certainly do, and they rate the Manns’ cars as top of the line.
Sam kids me that I don’t know the difference between an eight-cylinder and a six-cylinder car. That’s absolutely not true. The difference is clearly two cylinders! I might not know anything about cars, but I do appreciate beauty, and the Manns’ vintage automobiles are magnificent works of art.
More important to me than their cars is their friendship. They are caring, philanthropic people who would have my back in a “New York minute.” Remember, we are from the “old country” and nobody has ever heard of an “LA minute.”