911R Jeff Mannix

[HistoryBuff]

Way back in '70-72 I ran across an actor in West Hollywood named Jeff Mannix who had a white 911R and I wrote it up for Motor Trend. The next time I see one is in Porsche Unexpected, a magnificent book. I was wondering if any 911R was ever advertised or sold back in the '70s at a barn find price because the car got so little publicity at the time nobody knew what it was.

By the way Mannix said it was so light, it would do wheelstands!

[Elombard]

do you have a scan of the article you can post? by chance?

[RSTarga]

There were only 20

[TRE Cup]

Yup...
His car was in the race car area at Auto Expo: An exotic car show that was the antecedent to the L.A. Auto Show. That was the first time I saw it. I used to cruise around the various exotic and Porsche shops/ dealers after school every few weeks as there was no internet, daily auto publications, etc. Auto Week was expensive for a student to subscribe to and with $5.00 filling a 22 gallon tank, the ol' hand me down Tempest did just fine at getting around checking out cool cars.
Anyway, back to my story. We used to run around up on Mulholland Drive , especially in summer time when you could hang out till 2-3 a.m. This was in 1970-75. One night we hear this tremendous wail echoing off the mountain/canyon walls. Two headlamps were moving FAST coming up the hill from Laurel Canyon. In a flash, I recognized the same R blasting past us. After a collective "Whoa......" from the crowd, we all giggled with glee on how *****in this car sounded and hauled A** past.
A few weeks later I cruise into Bob Smith Porsche near Hollywood Bl. There on the service drive, niched in the corner , was the R ! Holy S! I approach the service manager and ask about the car. " Its for sale . It's an old 911R, super light, and loud" My heart skipped.... " H.h..howwww much?" We are asking $8000 bucks " came the answer.
Oh my .. How am I going to swing this ?? Here was the Auto Expo car in front of my face, the Mulholland midnite terror, and it was for sale !!

That evening the subject was gingerly brought up at the dinner table with Mom and Dad. The subject matter was dropped quickly after being informed that Dad could buy a brand new Cadillac Brougham for slightly less money. But Daad ! This is a super rare car! This car is soooo awesome !. Subject closed

A few weeks later my friend Simon, who had rescued a neat lowered 67 SWB from a wrecking yard, told me about these guys with a trick Porsche shop in West Hollywood (where San Vicente and La Cienega cross today)
Cool.. let's go check it out. Wow! There was the R again, with its rear end propped way up on jack stands and three guys taking the engine out
Dang... Met Jeff Mannix and we chatted a little. The real asking price for the car was SIX THOUSAND ($6,000) DOLLARS. I admired the neat features again one more time- as this was just a dream not to be realized back then.
I THINK this is the car that Seinfeld may have ended up with. But then again more than a few were white.

[bugstrider]

Very cool story, thanks for sharing.

[gestalt1]

Not that $6k was small money back then, but if you had bought the 911r, knowing the value today, would you keep or sell? As an investment I would take the money, as a porsche nut knowing I would never have the chance of owning the rarest 911 again - really tough to call.

[TRE Cup]

This was the era where old race and sports cars were not worth much. 427 Cobras peppered the back of Road and Track ads in $5-7k range for months on end. Harry Heinl (sp?) had his GT40 Mk4 advertised for well over a year before he sold it. Team Francorchamps yellow 250 GTO was for sale in L.A. for $8500 obo !

Not too many years later the value had climbed dramatically and the GTO was worth about 100k. So yeah, being a young teen, the R would have sold for the princely sum of 30-40k which would have bought me a new Turbo with a/c. A much more comfortable and faster car

[HistoryBuff]

I'd still like to know what happened to the Jeff Mannix white 911R, figured with only 20 someone must remember where the Motor Trend car is...
but while I was at the Malibu Cars 'n coffee Oct. 19th, which I recommend as a low key
kick-the-tires event, I ran across a guy that looked something like Steve McQueen and he had a greenish 911 that had 911R taillights. I could tell it was a no-nonsense canyon racer kind of car but I hesitated asking him about the car because I thought if this guy is someone famous he will be mad that I destroyed the nobody-knows-who-I-am ambiance.

PS there were three or four 911s and three 356 cars there,but just as many Ferraris. The event starts at 7 am and ends at 9 am and there are none scheduled for Dec.

[Ernie W]

Motor Trend, Oct. 1972
"The one Porsche didn't tell us about"

[Olsen911]

Originally Posted by TRE Cup

Yup...
His car was in the race car area at Auto Expo: An exotic car show that was the antecedent to the L.A. Auto Show. That was the first time I saw it. I used to cruise around the various exotic and Porsche shops/ dealers after school every few weeks as there was no internet, daily auto publications, etc. Auto Week was expensive for a student to subscribe to and with $5.00 filling a 22 gallon tank, the ol' hand me down Tempest did just fine at getting around checking out cool cars.
Anyway, back to my story. We used to run around up on Mulholland Drive , especially in summer time when you could hang out till 2-3 a.m. This was in 1970-75. One night we hear this tremendous wail echoing off the mountain/canyon walls. Two headlamps were moving FAST coming up the hill from Laurel Canyon. In a flash, I recognized the same R blasting past us. After a collective "Whoa......" from the crowd, we all giggled with glee on how *****in this car sounded and hauled A** past.
A few weeks later I cruise into Bob Smith Porsche near Hollywood Bl. There on the service drive, niched in the corner , was the R ! Holy S! I approach the service manager and ask about the car. " Its for sale . It's an old 911R, super light, and loud" My heart skipped.... " H.h..howwww much?" We are asking $8000 bucks " came the answer.
Oh my .. How am I going to swing this ?? Here was the Auto Expo car in front of my face, the Mulholland midnite terror, and it was for sale !!

That evening the subject was gingerly brought up at the dinner table with Mom and Dad. The subject matter was dropped quickly after being informed that Dad could buy a brand new Cadillac Brougham for slightly less money. But Daad ! This is a super rare car! This car is soooo awesome !. Subject closed

A few weeks later my friend Simon, who had rescued a neat lowered 67 SWB from a wrecking yard, told me about these guys with a trick Porsche shop in West Hollywood (where San Vicente and La Cienega cross today)
Cool.. let's go check it out. Wow! There was the R again, with its rear end propped way up on jack stands and three guys taking the engine out
Dang... Met Jeff Mannix and we chatted a little. The real asking price for the car was SIX THOUSAND ($6,000) DOLLARS. I admired the neat features again one more time- as this was just a dream not to be realized back then.
I THINK this is the car that Seinfeld may have ended up with. But then again more than a few were white.

Cool story - Thanks for sharing.
Just as you describe it, In my younger days on several occasions i was about to get heart failure and shortness of breath when a Porsche just ran close by with the sound as thunder and lightning.
Always known it hat to be us. .
Still brings a smile on my face.

Cheers - Olsen911/Tommy Olsen

[Ernie W]

when it was owned by Jeff Zwart

[HistoryBuff]

Of course they are the same color...is there an owner list somewhere on the net so
we know when a historic or rare car changed from owner to owner? (I'll check if barchettacc.com also keeps track of owner lists on Porsche like they do on Ferrari).

Did Jeff Mannix buy the car from Europe? From the factory?


Does anyone have the SN?

For those familiar with FIA homologation rules way back then, was it 100 cars they had to make for it to be considered a GT car or 500? I was going to say 500 but then it occurred to me that the 917 was something like 50 or a 100.

PS this may be apropos of nothing but a few weeks ago I saw a guy in Malibu driving a unrestored early 911 with R taillamps, I think it was Chad McQueen but I don't think it was a 911R

[HistoryBuff]

For you too young to remember, before the internet there was hardly any way to find the SN of a car you saw for 5 minutes 45 years ago but now I know the SN to the car Jeff Mannix showed me. The site with a picture is

Factory 911 R 1967 Photo Gallery by JCK at pbase.com

The chassis is 911R 11899011R

Now I hope to find out what Seinfeld paid for it, and when he bought it or what was paid for it by other owners inbetween the time Jeff Mannix sold it for under $7000 and it got to Seinfeld. I am betting it went up a few thousand each time. Jeff Zwart must have bought it in "modern times" when it was already a well known classic--I am surprised he sold it but I guess he wanted an all out racing car.

Going back to that website, I am constantly looking up lots of cars of various marques and I really think that the Porsche fans' penchant for numbers and facts is what is helping the values of 356 and 911 cars soar at present. When I look at such oddballs as Bizzarrini and Intermeccanica, there is such a shortage of accurate info on SN, that one can make a mistake and buy a "bitsa," a car put together of parts. Porsches are becoming increasingly well documented, thanks again for the diligence. (Also shown by the fellow who posted the original Bill of Sale from Porsche re Steve McQueen's 911S)


Sehr gut!

[Matt Monson]

Something tells me Seinfeld won't tell you what he paid for the car. I'm just saying.

[Number1_dog]

My 1973 Jensen Healey cost $5,500 in May 1973, to put things in perspective,