James Wehr of South OC Cars and Coffee Dies at 27

James Wehr, who ran South OC Cars and Coffee in San Clemente with his father, Simon, died early on Sunday, September 13, in a single-car crash in Irvine. He was 27, NBC Los Angeles and Patch reported.

The meet shared the family’s news on its Instagram account later that day: “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. We respectfully ask for privacy as a family, as we process this profound loss.”

What police have said

Irvine police were called to a crash with a car on fire at Culver Drive and Deerfield Avenue at 12:18am, the department said in a statement. A preliminary investigation found that a 2019 McLaren had stopped northbound on Culver Drive at Deerfield Avenue and, when the light turned green, traveled north at a high rate of speed.

The driver lost control, and the car struck a curb and a tree, split in two and caught fire. Two people were found dead inside once the Orange County Fire Authority had put the fire out.

The department said it would not release the names of the people in the car until their families had been notified. As of September 14, Irvine police had not said who was driving or released the name of the second person. The department’s Major Accident Investigation Team is investigating and asks anyone with information to call Detective David Juarez at 949-724-7047.

The meet

South OC Cars and Coffee meets every Saturday, rain or shine, from 9am to 11am at the Outlets at San Clemente. It calls itself the world’s largest weekly car show. Its home page says 1,000 to 3,000 vehicles attend each week and its About page says hundreds, from hypercars and hot rods to pickups and motorcycles. Entry is free, and there is no registration.

The original Cars and Coffee in Irvine shut down in December 2014, DrivingLine reported. In the meet’s own telling, a group of friends who wanted somewhere to talk about cars after it closed began meeting at the Target in San Clemente, until more than 100 cars a week made the store nervous.

Simon Wehr then began hosting 50-mile Saturday evening cruises from the new Outlets at San Clemente, the way they are run in his homeland of Australia, the meet says. When word spread that the Cars and Coffee in Aliso Viejo might close, he asked the Outlets whether the meet could restart there.

Simon and James Wehr moved to Orange County from Australia in 2010, ABC7 reported in January 2026, when it said the two had started the meet nine years earlier. “The new Outlets had opened in San Clemente,” Simon Wehr told the station. “James was a little older, so I said, ‘Let’s go approach the Outlets and see if we could do something here.’”

James Wehr told ABC7 in the same report: “Getting to see people come out every week and enjoy the show. We see multiple generations of people walking around with their cars, and it’s a great environment. We’re super lucky.”

The fight to keep it

Complaints followed, over noise and speeding in nearby neighborhoods as cars left the show. In October 2025, following continued concerns about noise and safety, the San Clemente City Council voted unanimously to hold a public hearing on the event’s conditional use permit, the San Clemente Times reported.

“We have the reputation of being the strictest car show in the world,” Simon Wehr told the council. He said the show had 20 to 60 volunteers out every Saturday, most of them Marines from Camp Pendleton.

City staff had suggested the organizers contract for two deputies, at around $1,350 a week, Voice of OC reported. At the hearing on January 20, 2026, around 50 speakers argued for the show, and the council tabled the proposal without imposing new terms on the permit, Voice of OC and Patch reported.

“Laguna Beach is known for the Sawdust Festival and the Pageant of the Masters, Huntington Beach is known for the air show and surf festival, San Clemente is known for Cars and Coffee,” James Wehr said at the January 20 meeting, Voice of OC reported. “The city should be proud of it, embrace it and support it.”

The meet’s rules, posted on its website, are short: no speeding, revving or burnouts, and drive quietly and slowly on the streets and local freeways.

What happens next

As of Monday, September 14, no news report had said whether this Saturday’s show would go ahead or whether a memorial was planned, and the meet’s website carried no announcement.

South OC Cars and Coffee: hours, rules and how to go.

Sources