Michael Jordan’s custom Ferrari 550 Maranello sells for jaw-dropping amount at auction after being lost for 24 years

Michael Jordan’s custom Ferrari 550 Maranello has sold for a staggering amount at auction.

It’s all the more remarkable when you consider the fact that this car was only rediscovered this year.

Up until that point, it’d spent 24 years out of the public eye.

Now that it’s back in the spotlight, how much was someone willing to spend to make it their own?

Basketball players are renowned for their flashy cars

High profile athletes are notorious for enjoying the finer things in life.

And that’s certainly true of basketball players, who often leave NBA games in tricked-out cars.

LeBron James is the lucky owner of a $670,000 Lamborghini Aventador Roadster, gifted to him off the back of a shoe deal with Nike, as seen below.

Shaquille O’Neal may well be the prime example of this trend, with a series of impressive cars to his name, from a Lucid Air to two Cadillac Escalades.

There are exceptions to the rule – just take a look at Steph Curry – but basketballers, by and large, like a nice set of wheels.

That brings us onto Michael Jordan and his Ferrari 550 Maranello.

Michael Jordan’s Ferrari 550 Maranello has a long history

Only 3,082 550 Maranellos were made between 1996 and 2001, so it was already a rare enough car.

But even by that standard, Jordan’s was pretty exclusive, as it’d been modified to fit his 6’6″ frame.

That’s something Shaq can certainly relate to.

But in 2002, Jordan sold the car through Lake Forest Sportscars in Illinois, and it effectively went into hiding for the next 24 years.

At the time he sold it, there was only 6,400 miles on the odometer, The New York Times reported.

Incidentally, this wasn’t the first time Jordan had sent such a Ferrari away – he’d previously gifted one to Scottie Pippen.

After 24 years of obscurity, this Ferrari has re-emerged in a big way.

How was Jordan’s Ferrari 550 Maranello found?

The Ferrari was eventually tracked down by John Temerian and his team at vintage car preservation company Curated.

The breakthrough came when they found a partial chassis number in an old online forum.

They used it to reconstruct the car’s full VIN and cross-reference it with historic Ferrari dealer records, which confirmed its connection to Jordan.

That trail eventually led them to a long-term owner in California who had never publicly offered the car for sale.

Temerian eventually bought the Ferrari sight unseen, bringing one of Jordan’s most elusive cars back into the spotlight. 

How much did this Ferrari 550 Maranello sell for at auction?

When the 550 Maranello was first listed for auction by Joopiter, it was anticipated that it could fetch anywhere from $700,000 to $1.3 million, Motor1 reported.

In the end, it totally smashed that expectation, selling for $2.7 million.

Temerian had bought the car from its owner back in May.

“This isn’t just a world-record price for a Ferrari 550 Maranello. It’s a testament to the passion surrounding Michael Jordan, to Ferrari collectors, and to a new generation chasing the icons of the 1990s and early 2000s,” Temerian said.

“More than anything, it signals a generational shift in collecting — in what people value, what they consider significant, and ultimately, how they look at these cars as assets.”

It’s certainly a stunning car, made all the more enticing by its celebrity connection.