Ted and Rae Segerstrom open their collection to the public to raise money for charity.
When he was just a spry Southern California teenager, Ted Segerstrom got his first Mustang—a 1966 coupe—as a hand-me-down from his sister, and he has not strayed from the corral since. He has been collecting Mustangs about as long as he’s had a driver’s license, and was joined by wife Rae when they got married in 2004. Now they have a collection of Mustangs, Shelbys, and Shelby Mustangs that is bumping up against 100 or so cars, almost all rare or limited editions.
When we first visited the Segerstrom collection five years ago, it was in a huge warehouse in Orange County, Calif., with all the cars lined up parking lot-style in a huge concrete tilt-up building. It was well-lit and there were informational signs in front of each car. It was a nice collection, but no one could go in and see it. At least not then. But the Segerstroms had bigger plans for it.
“When we relocate the collection, it is our plan to open it as an event center and museum; it will be open to the public,” Ted Segerstrom said at that time in 2016. “Our life work now is to start a foundation to support the Shriners Children’s Hospital in Pasadena. All financial profit from the foundation will be used to benefit the hospital.”
Two of the five favorite yellow ones.
Mark Vaughn
He wasn’t just talking. That life work progressed for the next five years. First, the old building was sold because the timing for that got to be just too good. Then for three years the collection was scattered “all over” in buildings and warehouses around Orange County. And the search was on for a new home. They finally found one, on Whatney Drive in Irvine, Calic., in between the Mercedes Classic Center, where great Mercedes of yesteryear are brought back to glorious life, and Lance Stander’s Hillbank Motor Corporation, where continuation Cobras are lined up like automotive candy for anyone with six figure-car lust for power and glory. Whatney itself is wedged in between streets named Oldfield (as in Barney) and McLaren (as in Bruce) just up the hill from the Irvine Auto Center, home to everything from Lamborghini of Newport Beach and Tuttle-Click Hyundai. So it’s in the right place.
Top to bottom: GT500, GT500KR, GT500, GT350.
Mark Vaughn
When we visited the new location this week, there were cars carefully placed throughout the 41,000-square-foot, two-level building, with lighted gas station globes and sparkling neon lining the walls. In the middle are what might be Ted Segerstrom’s favorites (that’s my guess): five yellow GT500KR convertibles. I got to drive one of them five years ago, the one with the white top, and I’m still not fully recovered from the horsepower boot I got out of it. While much of the rest of the collection sat in faceless warehouses around the OC, these five yellow KRs were stored in Segerstrom’s garage.
Then there’s a vertical stack of o’ ‘Stangs in one corner, like a Mustang birthday cake. And there’s a collection of Cobras against one far wall. Upstairs are “the Fords,” as Segerstrom says: Hertz Mustangs, GT350s, GT500s, GT500KRs, Mach 1s, Boss 302s, 351s, and 429s and a GT40 or two along with several Cobras. It’s Shelby Mustang Cobra Heaven.
One month ago the Segerstroms opened the new facility and the whole collection to the public, or as much of it as could tastefully fit into the new building at 5 Whatney Drive in Irvine. The facility is called the Segerstrom Shelby Event Center. You can visit Thursdays through Sundays for $15, or you can rent it out to hold your birthday party, bat mitzvah, or other big bash. All proceeds go to charity.
“Rae and I share the passion of these cars with Carroll Shelby and Shelby American. But we also share a deep personal vision together in our lives, that is, helping the children of the world. By building this facility, we’re hoping we can make a difference.”
So go pay your 15 bucks and make a difference, all while seeing some of your favorite cars in perfectly restored glory.
Cobras, Cobras, Cobras!
Mark Vaughn
Keyword: Segerstrom Shelby Event Center Opens Amid Copious Cobras, Many Mustangs