James Wehr wife Emma Wehr mourned him after the 27-year-old co-founder of South OC Cars and Coffee died in a fiery McLaren crash in Irvine early Sunday. A 2019 McLaren struck a tree near Deerfield Avenue and Culver Drive around 12:20 a.m., split in half and burned before firefighters put out the flames.
South OC Cars and Coffee said Wehr died in a motor accident and described him as its co-founder. Emma Wehr wrote on Instagram on Sunday, “I never thought the day would come that I’d have to say such a final goodbye,” followed by, “Getting the opportunity to love you will always be the greatest blessing in my life …”
Deerfield Avenue and Culver Drive in Irvine
The Irvine Police Department said the McLaren was traveling north on Deerfield Avenue near Culver Drive at a high rate of speed when it hit the tree. Firefighters found both occupants dead after extinguishing the blaze. The crash left the basic reconstruction hanging on one point that matters immediately: the department said it was not clear who was at the wheel.
That uncertainty sits against the fact that Wehr was apparently in the vehicle and both people died. South OC Cars and Coffee said Wehr ran the club with his father, Simon, and the organization said on Instagram later Sunday, “Unfortunately, we have some really heavy news to share with you all. This morning, just after midnight, we lost our darling son and brother James, in a motor accident”
South OC Cars and Coffee in OC
South OC Cars and Coffee meets on Saturday mornings at The Outlets at San Clemente and draws hundreds of car collectors each week. Wehr had also spoken publicly earlier this year about the event, saying, “San Clemente for Cars and Coffee” and, “The city should be proud of it, embrace it and support it.”
Nik Saran, who met Wehr at South OC Cars and Coffee in 2021, said Wehr later collaborated with VF Engineering as a content creator and traveled with him to motorsport races around the country. Saran described him as “jovial,” said he could “find humor in the smallest of things,” and called him “very excited about what he did.”
Emma Wehr and Sarah
Sarah posted on Instagram on Sunday, “It’s too soon. We brought you into this world at 2:36am, August 17, 1999 and watched you grow into the magnificent man you are.” She added, “Your love for people, for your friends and your family, was second to none.”
For people who knew Wehr through South OC Cars and Coffee, the immediate next question is still the same one the Irvine Police Department has not answered: who was driving the McLaren when it struck the tree in Irvine?
