FORM 3

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 INITIAL STATEMENT OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or Section 30(h) of the Investment Company Act of 1940

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(Print or Type Responses)

1. Name and Address of Reporting Person *   SMITH DAVID BRUTON 2. Date of Event Requiring Statement (Month/Day/Year) 10/16/2008 3. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol SONIC AUTOMOTIVE INC [SAH] (Last) (First) (Middle) C/O SONIC AUTOMOTIVE, INC., 6415 IDLEWILD ROAD, SUITE 109 4. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable) __X__ Director _____ 10% Owner __X__ Officer (give title below) _____ Other (specify below) Executive Vice President 5. If Amendment, Date Original Filed(Month/Day/Year) 10/24/2008 (Street) CHARLOTTE, NC 28212 6. Individual or Joint/Group Filing(Check Applicable Line) _X_ Form filed by One Reporting Person ___ Form filed by More than One Reporting Person (City) (State) (Zip) Table I - Non-Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned

1.Title of Security (Instr. 4) 2. Amount of Securities Beneficially Owned (Instr. 4) 3. Ownership Form: Direct (D) or Indirect (I) (Instr. 5) 4. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership (Instr. 5)

Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly.			SEC 1473 (7-02)
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Table II - Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities)

1. Title of Derivative Security (Instr. 4)	2. Date Exercisable and Expiration Date (Month/Day/Year)		3. Title and Amount of Securities Underlying Derivative Security (Instr. 4)		4. Conversion or Exercise Price of Derivative Security	5. Ownership Form of Derivative Security: Direct (D) or Indirect (I) (Instr. 5)	6. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership (Instr. 5)
	Date Exercisable	Expiration Date	Title	Amount or Number of Shares
Options to Purchase (1)	  (2)	05/02/2011	Class A Common Stock	0	$ 10.35	D	Â

Reporting Owners

Reporting Owner Name / Address	Relationships
	Director	10% Owner	Officer	Other
SMITH DAVID BRUTON C/O SONIC AUTOMOTIVE, INC. 6415 IDLEWILD ROAD, SUITE 109 CHARLOTTE, NC 28212	  X	Â	  Executive Vice President	Â

Signatures

/s/ David B. Smith		02/04/2011
**Signature of Reporting Person		Date

Explanation of Responses:

*	If the form is filed by more than one reporting person, see Instruction 5(b)(v).
**	Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations. See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a).
(1)	The reporting person is filing this Form 3/A to remove this option grant that was reported on a Form 3/A filed January 14, 2011 and to return his list of holdings to those originally reported on his Form 3 on October 16, 2008. At the time of filing that Form 3/A, the reporting person believed the option grant was erroneously omitted from his original Form 3 filing. However, subsequent to the filing of the Form 3/A, it was discovered that this option grant had been exercised prior to the reporting person's original Form 3 filing and was not beneficially owned by the reporting person on the date he became a director and Section 16 officer of Sonic Automotive, Inc. Therefore, it was properly not reported on his original Form 3 filing.
(2)	Options to purchase vested in three equal annual installments beginning on May 2, 2002.

Note: File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed. If space is insufficient, See Instruction 6 for procedure.

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