Scottsdale, Arizona
Tires & Timepieces
A jeweler in Scottsdale sells Patek Philippe and Rolex. Twice we filled their car park with the rarest cars we could get hold of, opened the gate at half past seven on a Saturday morning, and let anybody walk in. By ten it was over and the street was empty again. The second time, a hundred and ninety cars turned up and fifteen hundred people came to stand next to them.
Nobody paid to get in. Every ticket was free, and they went in thirty hours.
Ferrari Enzo. One of 399 built, and one of seven finished in this yellow.
Two and a half hours
What the morning actually was
Coffee at the gate from Blue House and donuts from Pearl’s, both hot, both free. A DJ set up under the awning. Somewhere down the row you could get a massage, or a B-12 shot, or try on a pair of shoes worth more than most people’s watches.
The point of it was never the shopping. It was that a person who had only ever seen an F40 on a screen could stand a foot away from one on a Saturday morning, for nothing, and ask the owner what it is like to drive. Most of the owners were standing right there, and most of them wanted to tell you.
The record
Two editions, counted
Edition Two
Saturday 13 May 2023
- People through
- 500+
- Cars on display
- 130
- Value on the tarmac
- $45M+
They came from 17 cities across Arizona and California. The weekend before Mother’s Day, so the watch side ran Tudor.
Edition Three
Saturday 28 October 2023
- People through
- 1,500
- Cars on display
- 190+
- Value on the tarmac
- $59M+
They came from 20 cities across Arizona and California. Before the holidays. Three times the crowd of the spring edition.
The display register
What was parked there
Not a list of what turned up. A list of what we went and found, because a car park full of good cars and a car park with a One-77 in it are two different mornings.
- Ferrari Enzo$4M+1 of 399, and 1 of 7 in Giallo Yellow
- Aston Martin One-77$3.5M1 of 77
- Ferrari F40$3M1 of 1,311
- Aston Martin DB5$3MThe Goldfinger car. 1 of 1,059
- Porsche Carrera GT$2M1 of 1,270
- Lamborghini Aventador SVJ$900kThree of them, from a run of 800
- Lexus LFA$875k1 of 500
- Ferrari SF90$800k6 of 699
- Lamborghini Ultimae$700k1 of 350
- McLaren 765LT$670kFour of them, two the 300-run Spider
- Lamborghini Countach$650k1 of 2,000
- Lamborghini Murciélago$650k1 of 4,099
- Rolls-Royce Phantom$535kBespoke Hermès orange interior
- Ferrari 812 Superfast$400kFour of them, from a run of 999
- Ferrari 296 GTS$400kIts first public unveiling
- Rolls-Royce Ghost$425kBlack Badge, in Tiffany paint
The October edition, from above. Two hours later there was nothing there at all.
The next one
It is on the calendar
The next Tires and Timepieces is Sunday 6 December 2026, at Scottsdale, Arizona. A Sunday this time, not the Saturday the first two ran on. Doors at half past seven, done by ten, and spectating is free the way it has always been.
Who made it
None of it was one person
- On the cars
- Scottsdale Ferrari, Scottsdale Lamborghini, Highline Autos
- In the car park
- Blue House Coffee, Pearl’s Mini Donuts, DJ Joel Avena, The Lavatory
- Along the row
- Secured Sneakers, The NOW, Hydrate, Nektar, EVO, Leverage Wines, Evans Furs, Sante
Tires and Timepieces was produced for an authorized Patek Philippe and Rolex jeweler in Scottsdale, by PaddockGavin, then trading as GoTime Motorsports.