Michael Jordan’s Ferrari Draws Pharrell, KAWS and More to CART Department
Michael Jordan’s long-lost Ferrari and 1998 NBA Finals jersey took over 16 Morton Street for an intimate New York preview.
Cart Department welcomed JOOPITER and CURATED to 16 Morton Street in New York City for a special presentation centered around two pieces of Michael Jordan history: his 1997 Ferrari 550 Maranello and the jersey he wore during Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals. Staged inside Cart Department’s West Village space, the gathering brought automotive design, basketball, sneakers and collecting culture into the same room, giving guests a rare opportunity to experience both objects at close range. More than an auction preview, the evening traced a chapter of Jordan’s legacy through the objects that surrounded him during one of the most defining periods of his career. The presentation served as the New York opening of “Driven to Greatness,” bringing JOOPITER together with Miami-based automotive specialist CURATED as the auction platform makes its first entry into collector cars. For the occasion, the Ferrari sat at the center of Cart Department alongside Jordan’s white Chicago Bulls jersey, creating a direct link between his life on and off the court during the late 1990s.
JOOPITER founder Pharrell Williams was among those who gathered at 16 Morton Street, alongside guests including Maye Musk, Olivia Jade and Tina Leung. Throughout the evening, guests moved between the car and jersey, examining the details that have transformed both from personal possessions into artifacts of a much larger cultural story. For Pharrell, that ability for an object to capture a moment is central to the project. “Driven to Greatness is about the spirit of someone who changed the way the world saw what was possible in basketball and in sports in general,” Williams said. “The Last Dance is a piece of history you can hold and is a reminder that the extraordinary can transcend the ordinary.”
Few objects illustrate that crossover quite like the Ferrari. Delivered to Jordan in May 1997, chassis 108712 is finished in Rosso Barchetta over tan leather and equipped with chrome Speedline wheels, a gated manual transmission and a front-mounted V12. Jordan received the car as the Bulls entered the final stretch of their second three-peat, placing it squarely within the period that would later become synonymous with “The Last Dance.” Its significance extends well beyond Jordan’s ownership. The 550 Maranello famously became a point of reference for Tinker Hatfield while designing the Air Jordan XIV. Elements of the Ferrari can be found throughout the sneaker, from its sculpted lines and ventilation to the quilted detailing and Jumpman emblem positioned inside a shield reminiscent of Ferrari’s own badge. Jordan would ultimately wear the XIV during the 1998 NBA Finals, forever connecting the automobile, the sneaker and one of the most recognizable moments in basketball history.
That relationship gives the car an unusual place in design history. It is at once a piece of Ferrari engineering, a personal artifact from Jordan’s collection and a physical reference point behind one of the most recognizable shoes in the Air Jordan lineage. Nearly three decades later, placing the car alongside an object Jordan actually wore during those Finals makes those separate histories feel remarkably close.
Across the room, Jordan’s white No. 23 Chicago Bulls jersey represented the other side of that story. Worn during Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz, the jersey comes from the final championship series of Jordan’s Bulls career. Chicago won the game 96-54, with Jordan scoring 24 points in what remains the largest margin of victory in NBA Finals history. The jersey carries a pre-sale estimate of $10 million to $15 million. Bringing the two together offered a different way of looking at memorabilia. Rather than separating sports history, automotive collecting and design into distinct worlds, “Driven to Greatness” presented them as part of the same ecosystem. The Ferrari informed a sneaker. The sneaker became part of a championship. The championship turned both the jersey and the objects surrounding Jordan into lasting pieces of cultural history.
That intersection felt particularly at home at Cart Department. Conceived around the idea that cars can exist as more than transportation, the 16 Morton Street space has become a setting for conversations around automobiles, art, design and the communities that form around them. For one evening, Jordan’s Ferrari became less an isolated collector car and more a vehicle through which those worlds could meet. The Ferrari and jersey remained on public view at Cart Department, 16 Morton Street, from September 15 through September 20. Bidding for the Ferrari runs through September 30 via JOOPITER, with the car carrying an estimate of $700,000 to $1.3 million.
Photography: BFA
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