A look inside the Segerstrom Shelby Event Center
IRVINE, Calif. - As he stands in the middle of his event center Ted Segerstrom says, "These Cobras are the fastest cars in the world."
Segerstrom and his wife Rae have an amazing collection of classic cars – all made by race car driver and designer Carroll Shelby.
Shelby was the master of modifications taking Mustangs or other cars and turning them into race cars!
Get your top stories delivered daily! Sign up for FOX 11’s Fast 5 newsletter. And, get breaking news alerts in the FOX 11 News app. Download for iOS or Android.
They’re fun to look at and they have such history including one car that Shelby made himself from the ground up and many that are just like artwork.
One car in his collection is a 1965 Shelby 427 Cobra. It’s brushed aluminum. Shelby actually autographed the nose of the car, which could be painted or polished to have a mirrored-finish.
His love of cars goes back to his childhood. But the kid stuff has turned into an amazing collection housed in his event center in Irvine. Besides showing off his great cars and helping people learn auto history, he hopes to be able to have people book weddings and other events in and around the cars and the huge facility.
Back to the cars, he points with pride to an original Paxton Super Car.
He says, "Its the first one. That’s been gone for 40-some years. When we grew up you couldn’t put a Paxton super-charger on a car or turbo charger. Today just about every car has a turbo on it."
In 1966, Hertz Rental Car company went to Shelby and asked for 1,000 customized cars, including 85 4-speeds. As he looks at his Hertz collection, he explains that "after a while Hertz, called up Shelby and said, ‘Stop it! They’re burning up clutches! Put automatics in.’"
Carroll Shelby died in 2012. But thanks to Ted and Rae Segerstrom, his legacy lives on.
Thursday will be a special day in and around his Shelbys as supermodel Kathy Ireland joins the Segerstoms for special celebration announcing a partnership between her pediatric cancer foundation and the museum.
Tune in to FOX 11 Los Angeles for the latest Southern California news.