{"id":821680,"date":"2026-08-27T08:52:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T08:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/821680\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T08:52:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T08:52:03","slug":"custom-ferrari-once-owned-by-michael-jordan-going-to-auction-after-long-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/821680\/","title":{"rendered":"Custom Ferrari once owned by Michael Jordan going to auction after long search"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Ferrari once owned by Michael Jordan<\/a>, which later disappeared from public view for more than two decades before being rediscovered earlier this year, will sell at auction this September. Purchased in 1997, the Ferrari made its most notable cameo with Jordan behind the wheel following Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals, where Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls dynasty secured their fifth championship.<\/p>\n

The 1997 Ferrari<\/a> 550 Maranello, which has a pre-sale estimate of $700,000-$1.3 million, is being brought to auction through a partnership between marketplace Joopiter and Curated, the supercar dealership responsible for rediscovering the vehicle. Jordan was regularly seen driving the Ferrari, which was also used as inspiration by Nike designer Tinker Hatfield for the Air Jordan 14. The Ferrari, which was modified with custom seat tracks and padding density so the 6-foot-6 NBA legend could fit into it, according to Hemmings<\/a>, vanished from public view after being sold by Jordan in December 2002.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

\n Jordan\u2019s Ferrari 550 Maranello outside his former home in Illinois. (Photo courtesy of Joopiter)<\/p>\n

A decade-long search by Curated co-founder John Temerian ended earlier this year when the Ferrari was found with a private owner in California. A partial chassis number found in an online forum led to the full VIN being reconstructed, which helped direct the search to its long-term owner. Temerian purchased the car sight unseen and returned it to Chicago exactly 29 years after it was originally delivered to Jordan. Inside the trunk, Temerian found much of the Ferrari\u2019s original paperwork, including Jordan\u2019s Illinois title certificate from 1997.<\/p>\n

Jordan\u2019s Ferrari represents Joopiter\u2019s entry into the surging high-end collector-car market. This year\u2019s Monterey Car Week, which celebrates classic and high-end vehicles, saw a record $762 million in auction sales, including 142 cars sold for more than $1 million each, according to Road & Track<\/a>. The previous high for the event was $471 million in 2022.<\/p>\n

The Ferrari heads to auction as the latest supercar with its value potentially boosted by a former famous owner. Other notable celebrity car auctions include the near-sale of Steve McQueen\u2019s Porsche 917k \u2014 current owner Jerry Seinfeld turned down a $25 million bid in 2025 \u2014 and the 1961 Ferrari California Spyder owned by actor James Coburn for nearly $11 million in 2008.<\/p>\n

Joopiter will also sell the jersey worn by Jordan<\/a> during Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals this September. The jersey has a pre-sale estimate of $10-$15 million. Bidding for both Jordan\u2019s Ferrari and Game 3 jersey runs Sept. 15-30.<\/p>\n

The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Ferrari once owned by Michael Jordan, which later disappeared from public view for more than two decades…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3771],"tags":[7,920,919,329,3824,14305,6,10],"class_list":["post-821680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-bulls","tag-basketball","tag-bulls","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-chicagobulls","tag-memorabilia-collectibles","tag-nba","tag-sports-business"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117166627185646681","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}