Skip to main content

It’s hard not to love Porsche. The iconic Porsche 911 is a staple of any track day, autocross, car show, and even the silver screen. There’s no shortage of celebrities that have a fascination with them, too. One that may surprise you, though, is His Airness himself; Michael Jordan.

What Porsche did Michael Jordan have?

Porsche 930 Turbo Flat Nose Slant Nose Flachbau like the one Michael Jordan has
Slantnose 930 Porsche 911 | Porsche

According to The Sports Rush, there wasn’t just one Porsche in the collection of legendary NBA star Michael Jordan. Considering His Airness was no short drink of water at six-and-a-half feet tall, it may be a bit surprising to see that he’d go out of his way to fit in the notoriously small cabins of air-cooled Porsche 911s. If that doesn’t explain how great a Porsche 911 is, nothing will!

First on the docket to prove that Michael Jordan loves Porsche is his 930 generation Porsche 911. This isn’t just a run-of-the-mill 930. Jordan bought himself a Porsche 911 turbo Slantnose cabriolet. The Slantnose, known in Germany as the “Flachbau,” is a special edition Porsche 911.

According to CarBuzz, only about 160 Slantnose models ever made it to the U.S. They are identifiable by their pop-up headlights in place of the iconic Porsche 911 round headlights. The Sports Rush reports that Air Jordan would have had to cough up around $100,000 to buy it in 1989. That’s around $235,722 in today’s money.

There’s an even more remarkable bit of trivia regarding Jordan’s Porsche fascination, too. In 1991, Nike released the Air Jordan 6. It was designed by Nike legend Tinker Hatfield and drew inspiration from Jordan’s Porsche 911!

The more iconic Porsche that was in Jordan’s collection, though, was his Guards Red 993 Porsche 911 Turbo S. Fans could easily tell that Jordan was behind the wheel when on public roadways. Of course, the color itself is pretty identifiable, but it also had custom vanity plates that simply say “AIR” on them.

Ultimately, it seems MJ has great taste when it comes to Porsche models!

Jordan had all kinds of other sports cars, too.

Though it seems like Jordan has a special place for Porsche in his heart, he’s had a bunch of other exciting cars, too. He’s had a handful of Ferraris, Corvettes, Range Rovers, and just about anything else you could imagine. He’s even had a couple of rogue entrants like Aston Martins, Bentleys, and even a Cadillac XLR-V, according to GQ Magazine.

Ultimately, though, the Air Jordan 6 being inspired by his Porsche 911 is just about the coolest thing we could imagine. It seems that, for the most part, his other car purchases came and went. The flex of a Ferrari or a Bentley can wear off after a while. However, forever cementing the legacy of a special edition Porsche as part of the design inspiration for one of the most iconic shoes in history tells the story of how much he loves the car.

It just goes to show that, in the world of high-end performance cars, the Porsche 911 really is a historic landmark.

Related

Porsche 911 Cabriolet America Edition Marks an Important Milestone