On May 29, 1997, Michael Jordan had a Ferrari 550 Maranello delivered to him. It was a match made in heaven: a renowned supercar for the greatest basketball player of all time. At the time, Jordan was on a quest to win his fifth NBA championship with the Chicago Bulls. Less than a month later, he accomplished the feat. Hours after claiming his fifth NBA title on June 13, 1997, Jordan was seen in the bowels of United Center, sitting in his Ferrari, with a cigar in hand. Photographers followed him as he smiled for the cameras while he sat behind the wheel: Rosso Barchetta over tan leather, chrome Speedline wheels, and an Illinois plate that read “MJ 5.”
The Ferrari 550 Maranello was a landmark for the Italian luxury sports car manufacturer, marking its return to the front-engined V12 — a two-seat berlinetta with a gated manual, the configuration that made the marque’s name, revived after more than two decades away. The Ferrari was a constant presence as he geared up for his sixth NBA title and his second three-peat. He drove the car to home games, practices, and public appearances.
Jordan ultimately sold the Ferrari to Lake Forest Sportscars in Illinois on Dec. 4, 2002. Then, out of nowhere, the Ferrari vanished. For more than two decades, there were no confirmed public sightings. A gargantuan effort soon was underway to locate the sports car that contributed to Jordan’s legacy. CURATED, a specialist in collector and vintage supercars, embarked on a decade-long search, led by the company’s co-founder, John Temerian. A breakthrough finally came when a partial chassis number surfaced in an old online forum, allowing the team to reconstruct the full VIN. And after working with Ferrari’s historical dealer records, which still listed chassis 108712 under Jordan’s name with the “MJ 5” plate attached, CURATED traced the Ferrari to a long-term California owner who had never publicly offered the car for sale. Temerian acquired the Ferrari and returned it to Chicago on May 29, 2026, exactly 29 years after it was originally delivered to Jordan.
CURATED Partners with Pharrell’s JOOPITER
Jordan’s Ferrari hits the auction block next month. The bid opens on Sept. 15 and closes on Sept. 30. For the iconic auction, CURATED partnered with Pharrell’s JOOPITER, a global digital-first commerce and content platform, marking JOOPITER’s entry into the collector-car market.
Collectors can also bid on Jordan’s Game 3 “Last Dance” NBA Finals jersey, which was announced last week. The bidding for the jersey ends on Sept. 29. The jersey is expected to fetch upwards of $15,000.
“At JOOPITER, we are committed to bringing the world’s most culturally significant objects to market, and few automobiles embody greatness more completely than Michael Jordan’s Ferrari 550 Maranello,” said Caitlin Donovan, JOOPITER’s Global Head of Sales. “Presented alongside Michael Jordan’s Game 3 ‘Last Dance’ NBA Finals jersey, these two extraordinary artifacts tell the story of the greatest basketball player of all time at the pinnacle of his career. We are honored to bring one of the defining collecting opportunities of our generation to market and to continue expanding the boundaries of sport, culture, and collecting.”
