Shelby museum makes enthusiast’s heart race
OUTSIDE THE GATES
by Joanna Matos
LW contributor
If it’s a new museum, I’m curious. If it’s an automobile museum, I’m excited. If it’s a Carroll Shelby event center and museum right here in Orange County, I’m exhilarated.
According to Jay Leno, Carroll Shelby was part “P.T. Barnum, part Henry Ford and part Rocky. He was an American original.” The Ted and Rae Segerstrom Shelby Event Center is built around the love of the automobile and the legend of Venice, California, race car driver Carroll Shelby. The museum houses the fourth largest collection in United States, with more than 80 rare street and racing Cobras, high-performance Shelby Mustangs and nostalgic petroliana. The enthusiasts, founders and philanthropists were responsible for curating the two-story, 41,000-square-foot center in Irvine. Visitors travel in chronological order through the cars, videos and artifacts of Shelby’s accomplishments.
The Segerstroms opened their collection to the public in October 2021 to raise money for the Shriners Children’s Hospital in Pasadena. The Shelby Event Center is open Thursdays-Sundays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is $15, which is a steal for a museum of this caliber.
Among the cars on display is this special 50th-anniversary silver Cobra
