AutoTrader Commercial: 2014

The commercial was filmed in and around Slidell, Covington, and Folsom Louisiana on Feb 22-27, 2014.  Picture Car Warehouse built and supplied the General Lees and the Dodge Charger police cars.  A total of six General Lees and four police cars were used.  There were two "Hero" (Close up) General Lees titled HGL1 and HGL2.  Both Hero cars were actually TV series survivors.  All four other General Lees were 2nd unit stunt cars.  The two jump cars were SGL1 and SGL2 while the two stunt cars were SGL3 and SGL4​, and were used for hard-driving scenes.  All cars survived through the production.

HGL1 (Hero General Lee #1) is actually a surviving TV Series GL.  During the series, this car was known as "WGL24".  Being a very rainy and muddy week of filming... and the car's owner being on the set throughout the production, the car had very limited use... if any.  This car is the only surviving R/T from the TV series.  ​

HGL2 (Hero General Lee#2) was one of two original TV Series General Lees that was used for the production of the AutoTrader commercial.  This car was  known as "WGL76" and is powered by a 383.  HLG2 car was used for almost every interior scene of the commercial.  Just like HGL1, HGL2 received a new set of wheels and tires for the commercial.  In some scenes you can see fake black shoulder seat belts that were used.  Later in the production, they were removed.  Maybe it was because they had issues with them being in the way and that they awkwardly fit around the actors.  Being "Politically Correct" though... they had to be seen.

  While I was on the set, I had the opportunity to watch the crew prepare the vehicle for a scene.  It was interesting to see how much prep work is involved to set up the cameras for just a few seconds worth of footage.  It took nearly 1.5 hours to mount three cameras, lights, batteries in the trunk, wire everything up, and to set all of the proper lighting.  

​During filming, John Schneider was driving HGL2 on a muddy gravel road and the back end got away from him causing the car to nose off into an embankment.  This slightly damaged the front valance, front lower portion of the left fender, and chipped the driver side door.  This can be seen in the Bonus footage from AutoTrader.  

SGL1 (Stunt General Lee #1) is an H-code 383 1968 Charger with a column shifted automatic transmission.  This car was one of the more solid cars built for the commercial.  The car received a full roll cage which extends into the trunk compartment as well as the engine bay.  The engine bay has a large hoop from side to side that serves as a massive shock tower.  The trunk compartment has the fuel cell towards the rear of the car and the battery was located behind the left wheel well.  Right in front of the fuel cell was a plate that was welded to the floor with two pieces of tube welded upright.  Since this car was built for jumps, the crew would slide weights on the tubes to help balance out the car.  

The K-frame has a massive skid plate welded to the front.  Not only did it help on landings, it also strengthened up the K-frame.  Square tubing sub-frame connectors were installed which the body very rigid. The rear end is an 8 3/4.

Just like every other stunt vehicle built for the commercial, the interior was strictly business only.  The car did not have much as far as interior components like door panels, carpet, console, etc.  This car had a special hand brake that was used to help slide the car around.  There were two racing style bucket seats installed on a special frame that was built on the floor.  

The car performed all of the smaller jumps and was jumped a total of six times.  With the body reinforced as much as it was, it was very rigid and took the landings very well.  When you see the General Lee bust through the barn, that is SGL1.  The car's biggest jump was at the end of the commercial when it is jumped through the dealership window.  At the end of filming, John Schneider and Tom Wopat autographed the dash.  

SGL2 was a jump car and was used mostly for the bigger jumps.  This car started life as a L-code 383 1970 Charger.

​​SGL3 was a stunt driven car and was the most used stunt car.  It was powered by a very strong 496ci stroker.  This car is easy to spot in the commercial from the dent right over the passenger side rear wheel.

On May 16, 2015, SGL3 went across the auction block at Mecum Auto Auctions in Indianapolis, IN.  The hammer dropped and the car sold for $95,000.

On Jan. 16, 2020, SGL3 sold on eBay for $60,200 (Buy It Now offer was $84,500).  The car was being sold out of Nashville, TN.

SGL4 was a stunt driven car and was not used nearly as much as SGL3.  It may have not even seen any screen time.  This car is a 1969 Charger R/T 440 4spd.  It may not have been used much in filming, but it WAS used for the promotional photos with John Schneider and Tom Wopat.