IRVINE, CA. (THECOUNT) — James Wehr, a 27-year-old car influencer and co-founder of South OC Cars and Coffee, has been identified as the driver killed early Sunday when his McLaren sports car crashed and caught fire in Irvine, Orange County, California.
Wehr was reportedly driving the 2019 McLaren at a high rate of speed shortly after midnight when the vehicle lost control, struck a curb and slammed into a tree in the area of Culver Drive near Deerfield Drive, according to reports citing the Irvine Police Department.
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The impact caused the McLaren to split apart and burst into flames. Officers and Orange County Fire Authority firefighters responded to reports of a vehicle fire. After firefighters extinguished the blaze, two occupants were found deceased inside the wreckage.
Wehr was identified by family and friends as the driver. The identity of the passenger had not been publicly released as of the latest reports.
Police have not announced a final cause of the crash. The investigation remains ongoing, and additional details concerning the vehicle’s speed, the passenger’s identity and the circumstances immediately before the collision may be released as investigators complete their work.
Wehr was widely known in the Southern California automotive community as a founder and organizer of South OC Cars and Coffee, a major weekly car gathering held at the Outlets at San Clemente. The event attracts hundreds to thousands of vehicles, including supercars, hypercars, exotic vehicles, classics, muscle cars, motorcycles and other specialty automobiles.
According to the organization’s official website, Wehr operated South OC Cars and Coffee with his father, Simon Wehr. The group promotes itself as the world’s largest weekly car show and maintains a substantial social-media presence across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and its website.
South OC Cars and Coffee’s official social-media presence includes its Instagram account, @southoccarsandcoffee, as well as its Facebook and YouTube platforms. Wehr was also associated with the Instagram account @wehr, where automotive content and personal posts were shared.
The organization’s website states that its weekly gatherings generally draw between 1,000 and 3,000 vehicles and thousands of spectators. The event’s official rules emphasize slow, quiet driving and prohibit speeding, burnouts and revving on surrounding streets and freeways.
Tributes began appearing online following the crash. South OC Cars and Coffee shared a family tribute describing Wehr as a beloved son. A photo showed James and his father smiling with their arms around each other.
Wehr’s wife, Emma, also posted an emotional tribute, describing him as “genuinely one of the best people” she had known.
Additional reports said Wehr had shared an Instagram post shortly before the crash. That post was reportedly being examined by online followers as they attempted to reconstruct the events leading up to the collision. The significance of that post had not been independently established.
Wehr’s death has prompted an outpouring of grief from car enthusiasts throughout Southern California and beyond. Friends and followers remembered him for his enthusiasm for high-performance vehicles, his involvement in the automotive community and his role in building South OC Cars and Coffee into a major regional event.
The passenger also died in the collision, but authorities had not released that person’s name in the latest available information. No additional injuries were reported in connection with the crash.
South OC Cars and Coffee continues to list its regular Saturday morning gathering at the Outlets at San Clemente, located in South Orange County. The event’s official website provides information about weekly shows, photographs, sponsors, videos and social-media channels.
Irvine is a city in Orange County in Southern California, located in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan region approximately 40 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The crash scene was reported along Culver Drive near Deerfield Drive in Irvine.
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