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Chevrolet Impala two generations · 1961–1970
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1967 Chevrolet Impala · Supernatural (2005–2020)
Dean Winchester's black 1967 Chevrolet Impala, a four-door hardtop, ran through all 15 seasons of Supernatural (2005–2020). The production used eight or nine of them, and when the show ended, Jensen Ackles took the main hero car home.
The car is a black 1967 Impala four-door hardtop. Chevrolet's specifications call this body the Impala 4-door Sport Sedan, and Warner Bros. also calls the show's car a Sport Sedan.1234
In the story the car has a 327 V8 with a four-barrel carburetor, by Warner Bros.' description. That was a real 1967 option: GM's engine table lists the 275-hp Turbo-Fire 327 as RPO L30.245
The brothers Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) travel the country in it. Wikipedia's account, drawing on books about the series, calls the Impala both their transport and a «third character», with a cache in the trunk for hidden weapons.6one source
The season 11 episode «Baby», first shown on The CW on 28 October 2015, is told entirely from inside the car.78
Eric Kripke, who created the show, grew up with TV series that had a signature car, and he thought of Supernatural as a modern Western: cowboys need a trusty horse, he said in 2008. In 2020 he called a car that was «like the third lead of the show» really important to him.910
His first idea was a Mustang (a '60s Ford in the 2008 account, a '65 in his own words in 2020). A neighbor in Venice, California, a mechanic, talked him out of it and told him he wanted a '67 Impala «because you can put a body in that trunk». Kripke told the story the same way in both interviews.910
Nerdist, writing after a 2015 set visit with the show's picture car coordinator, Jeff Budnick, called the hero car one of eight; the count is the writer's, not a quote from Budnick. By Nerdist's account the hero car was in almost every shot of the car and used almost every day, and had 12,000 miles when the production bought it and about 15,000 by late 2015. TV Insider reports that Ackles once said the hero car started life baby blue, with a matching interior.511
TV Insider later counted nine over 15 seasons: one main hero car, a couple of backups, a cutaway car for tight camera angles, cars for parts and several stunt cars. It does not say who counted (see the ruling).5one source
Budnick watched online auction sites for backup and parts cars and drove one back from Nebraska to Vancouver. He said four-door 1967 Impalas had once been «five hundred dollar cars» nobody wanted, that owners now wanted «five thousand and up» because of the show, and that he kept a warehouse of Impala parts and cars.11one source
In the season 1 finale, «Devil's Trap» (The WB, 4 May 2006), a semi-trailer truck rams the car. For the crash the car and the truck were cabled together with a winch and driven at each other; the car stuck in the truck's bumper. The production kept its wrecks, and the season 1 car shows up in the background of season 11's third episode.1112
Wikipedia describes a rig called «Highways» for side views of the car: LED lights carried past it made it look as if it were moving.6one source
For the episode «Baby», Extra, which visited the set, reported that eight cars were used. Cameras were rigged in the cars, the sound man rode in the trunk, and Ackles and Padalecki drove off with no crew.8one source
In September 2020 Ackles told Digital Spy and other media that he had begged for years and finally got permission: «They're going to let me drive home the Impala.»13one source
In November 2020 Motorious relayed an earlier interview, given before filming ended, without naming it. There Ackles was quoted as saying the car had been added to his contract for the last season; Motorious added that he planned to fit air conditioning and an updated radio.14one source
Ackles took the main hero car, by TV Insider's account. In the interview Motorious relayed, Ackles said Padalecki had been offered the hero car's double, but «wasn't sure if he was going to take the beat-up version». Padalecki did get a car of his own after the series wrapped, by TV Guide's account: «I see it in my garage», he said in November 2020. No source says which of the cars it is. The last episode aired on 19 November 2020.561014
In March 2022 Autoblog and Hagerty reported a «Baby» on show in the Petersen Automotive Museum's new exhibit of film and TV cars in Los Angeles. Neither says which of the show's cars it was or who owned it.115
The car Warner Bros. gave away at San Diego Comic-Con on 21 July 2019 was a replica: a fully restored 1967 Impala, restored in Kansas by Rick Blevins with Don and Michael Welsh.416one source
Few of the cars are named one by one in the sources. Eight or nine were used (see the ruling). TV Insider's nine counts parts cars, and in 2015 the production also kept a warehouse of Impala parts and cars and a yard of wrecks.511
| Car | VIN | On screen | What happened to it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main hero car | – | In 2015 the hero car was in almost every shot and used almost every day (Nerdist); TV Insider reports Ackles saying the hero car started life baby blue | Taken home by Jensen Ackles in 2020 (TV Insider); no source says outright that this is the 2015 car511 |
| Padalecki's car | – | One of the show's cars; Ackles said Padalecki was offered the hero car's double | Given to Jared Padalecki after the series wrapped (TV Guide); in his garage in November 2020; which car it is, not stated51014 |
| Season 1 finale car | – | Wrecked by the semi in «Devil's Trap» (2006) | Kept in the production's yard of wrecks; in the background of season 11, episode 3 (2015)511 |
| Chicago stand-in | – | A fan-restored car used for the 2014 backdoor pilot of the spinoff Bloodlines, shot in Chicago | Not recorded611 |
| Petersen display car | – | Shown as «Baby» in the Petersen's film and TV car exhibit | Reported on display in Los Angeles in March 2022; which car it was, and its owner, not stated; it may be one of the cars above115 |
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 4 May 2006 | «Devil's Trap» airs on The WB: the car is wrecked by a semi-trailer truck in the season 1 finale.12one source |
| 28 October 2015 | «Baby», told from inside the car, airs on The CW. Extra, which visited the set, reports that eight cars were used to film it.78 |
| 21 July 2019 | Warner Bros. awards a fully restored replica Impala to a fan at the show's last San Diego Comic-Con panel.4one source |
| 6 September 2020 | Digital Spy publishes Ackles's words from a press call: he will be allowed to drive the Impala home.13one source |
| 19 November 2020 | The last episode airs. Ackles has the main hero car; Padalecki has a car of his own.56 |
| 18 March 2022 | Autoblog reports a «Baby» on show in the Petersen Automotive Museum's new film and TV car exhibit in Los Angeles.15one source |
| 25 June 2022 | A «Baby» tribute car, a replica, is offered by GWS Auctions in Agoura Hills, California, and does not sell (marked «Passed»).17one source |
By Nerdist's account, the hero car of 2015 had 12,000 miles when the production bought it and about 15,000 then. TV Insider reports Ackles saying the hero car started life baby blue with a matching interior, and that the main hero car went home with him in 2020. No source says in so many words that these are the same car.511
Warner Bros. says its Comic-Con replica matched the original Hero #1, including an Audiovox cassette radio, a tuck-and-roll interior, a 454 big-block V8 and a Turbo 400 transmission; the replica also had a hidden weapons box and a Devil's Trap inside the trunk. The 454 is not on GM's 1967 Chevrolet engine list, which tops out at the 385-hp 427, and it is not the 327 of the story.24
Replicas copy the screen details. GWS Auctions described its tribute car as restored to be screen accurate, with the boys' initials carved in the package tray, the Devil's Trap on the trunk lid and the weapons box, and still called it a replica.17one source
Budnick helped with quite a few fan restorations, and for the 2014 spinoff pilot shot in Chicago he used a fan-restored car, so at least one car from outside the production's fleet has been on screen.611
A black 1967 Chevrolet Impala four-door hardtop, the body Chevrolet sold as the Impala Sport Sedan.12418
Eric Kripke wanted a signature car and first thought of a Mustang. A mechanic neighbor told him to take a '67 Impala «because you can put a body in that trunk».910
Eight or nine. A 2015 set report by Nerdist, written after a visit with the picture car coordinator, gives eight; TV Insider counts nine over all 15 seasons, parts cars included. The difference is shown in the ruling.511
In the story, a 327 V8 with a four-barrel carburetor. Warner Bros. described the original Hero #1 car as having a 454 big-block with a Turbo 400 transmission, an engine that is not on GM's 1967 list.24
By TV Insider's report of August 2025, the latest we have: Jensen Ackles took the main hero car home when the show ended in 2020, and Jared Padalecki kept one of the cars too.5one source
Every conflict behind the figures on this page. All rulings.
Open
Our ruling: Unresolved: eight to nine. The eight is Nerdist's own sentence after a 2015 set visit with the coordinator, during season 11, not a quote from him. Extra's eight is for one episode and does not confirm it: Extra (Telepictures, in partnership with Warner Bros.) also visited the set, Nerdist came «with a small group of journalists», and the two may come from the same studio press visit, which is not shown either way. The nine is TV Guide's count for the whole run (TV Insider, 2020 and 2025, one family), and it names no counter. Both can hold if a ninth car joined after 2015. TV Insider's nine counts parts cars; Nerdist does not say whether its eight do. Both are counts of cars used, not cars owned: in 2015 Budnick also kept a warehouse of Impala parts and cars and a yard of wrecks. No source lists the cars one by one or by VIN. We show «eight to nine» until a production source counts the whole run.
Settled
Our ruling: Padalecki got a car. Digital Spy's «has missed out on the Impala» is the writers' own line from before filming ended, and it is about the car Ackles had just been allowed to take. In November 2020 Padalecki said of his Impala, «I see it in my garage»; «[my]» and «gifted to him after the series' wrap» are TV Guide's insertions in his quote. Motorious relays, from an earlier interview it does not name, that he was offered the double, but not that he took it, and no source says which of the cars he got. TV Insider repeats in 2025 that both actors kept their own Impalas (same family as 2020).
American Car Classics is an independent reference. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Warner Bros.. The names are used only to identify the cars.
The car itself
