‘Michael Jordan’s tremendous impact on basketball and sneakers is universally acknowledged, and it can be easy to think there aren’t any new stories to add to the legend,’ says John McPheters, co-founder and CEO of Stadium Goods. ‘But as we’ve seen with The Last Dance and now with our Original Air auction at Christie’s, there are still lesser-known narratives in the legacy that create great interest.’
‘The shoes span art, pop culture and sports history,’
Michael Jordan ended his first season as a professional basketball player with the Chicago Bulls by being crowned Rookie of the Year. It was the summer of 1985 and Jordan was soon to become one of the most recognised people on the planet.
The New York Times described his debut performance as ‘phenomenal’, and Sports Illustrated declared ‘A Star Is Born’ when he made the front cover.
When Ferdinand Alexander Porsche entered the family business in 1958, he filled an unknown vacuum. An experimental visionary who wanted to challenge tradition, he elevated the design legacy of this famous German brand. From working in the engineering office to craftily creating an icon amongst sportscars, writer Ulf Porschardt reveals how Ferdinand Alexander’s sketches evolved to become a cultural symbol.
With every sparkling joke, every well-meaning and innocent character, every farcical tussle with angry swans and pet Pekingese, every utopian description of a stroll around the grounds of a pal’s stately home or a flutter on the choir boys’ hundred yards handicap at a summer village fete, he wanted to whisk us far away from our worries.
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“Astonishing” is the word we are looking to describe this BMW 507. A word we use a lot if it comes to selling classic cars, but only a little few deserve this ‘title’ like this 507 does. When an exceptional model, with an unique story, from what the historical documents are well archieved, it just makes us going crazy. Add matching numbers and -colors tot his list and we are losing it totally. That’s no different with this 507.
Max Hoffman convinced BMW that if they built a competitor to the Mercedes-Benz 300SL, he would sell it profitable in the United States. The BMW was intended to fill the gap between the affordable sports cars like the triumph and MG and the exclusive cars like the Mercedes-Benz 300SL and Ferrari 250 GT California. Though, BMW couldn’t achieve their target price, for what the BMW 507 was even more expensive than the 300SL. BMW found itself in a financial difficult situation and almost went bankrupt. At the end of the day, BMW recovered from this “failure” and the 507 even became a true flagship in the whole history of automotive.
In the ‘50s BMW disposed over all fundamental ingredients which would make the 507 complete. An all-aluminium 3.2-litre V8 engine was placed in a shortened chassis of the 502. This ingenious masterpiece produced no less than 150hp and sounds like a guitar solo in your ears. To save weigt, the body was made of aluminium, which results in a 1280kg’s for a fully finished 507. Besides the phenomenal results, BMW wanted to offer luxury as well. Both aspects are just spot on.
The Amphicar Model 770 is an amphibious automobile, launched at the 1961 New York Auto Show, manufactured in West Germany and marketed from 1961 to 1968. Production stopped in 1965.