Hell Drivers

[kevinfl]

What about the church hall location where the dance takes place?. It looks " too good " to be a set. Possibly in the vicinity of Pinewood - Fulmer, Langley?.

[Automotivehistorian]

In an article I hope will be in our magazine, I will be quoting from a chap's father who drove Kew Dodges. The speed limit at the time for trucks was 30 mph but the police stopped the author's father and let him off having they said clocked him at 84 mph! I am sceptical that the boys in blue were telling the truth, as I cannot criticise memories. I can certainly imagine 60 was achievable, as 40 was the norm in those days in service. The Perkins diesels must have been slower that the petrol-engined trucks.



I remember when we celebrated if dad's 1955 Ford Popular achieved 60 after a long struggle on the Causewway in Feltham...that was pretty scary in a cable-braked car.



A school friend's father was stopped doing illegal speeds in Feltham. The officer shouted at him when he got to the driver's window: "Who the fuff do you think you are? Fuffing Fangio?". Dates it a bit!

[alan gowdy]

I managed to get up to the Downs today to take some photos. The disused quarry (easily visible from the A2037 Henfield Road) is pretty much as it was 50 years ago. No sign of wreckage (no surprise there) but rather unnervingly someone had pinned a target to a small tree at the base and peppered it with very accurate gunshots. Ooo er.



On looking more closely at the scenes where the two lorries fall into the quarry I have an uneasy feeling that the distance they fall is significantly greater than the height of the quarry that I photographed (which is the one seen in the long shot that is used several times). Therefore perhaps another quarry was used for the climactic shots. Where? Perhaps the old cement works nearby which is much larger. Incidentally it seems to me that a clumsy matte was used on one short duration shot of Baker's lorry falling, to increase the apparent width of the quarry face.



The section of road where the Baker character spots McGoohan's character taking a shortcut, just as they emerge from some trees, is very recognisable, though the neat line of planted saplings on the side road/track to the quarry have been removed. The sign to Warren Hill Quarry was probably genuine as there is a sign on the footpath I took referring to the area as Warren Hill.



I'm happy to upload images but it seems not to be that simple - I keep getting asked for the URL of the images.

They are on my PC, not a website.

Why is life so complicated?

[Moor Larkin]

perhaps another quarry was used for the climactic shots. Where?

A chap posted an old clipping from the Shoreham Times of 1957 showing the filming. The quarry used for the crash was a much older and smaller one than the cement works. I'm sure it's all earlier in this Thread..... or another one very similar. Another poster recalled seeing the lorries next to the trees. It was near a radar station he worked at. I'm sure you'll find all this upthread.



Great that you've got your finger out and been there though. I keep driving past on the A27 and keep thinking I must pop up there some day..... I'll look forard to seeing some pix....

[alan gowdy]

One of my pictures does feature a rather larger quarry only a few hundred metres from the 'long shot' one. I initially discounted it as it is very active with excavators and trucks so I assumed it was a recent feature. However, looking at aerial photos suggests that it was in existence some time ago, possibly lay unused for a while, and has recently (last 5 or 10 years?) been re-opened. If it was the one used for the truck smashes then it has changed dramatically and any residual evidence of filming that may have been there will have been lost.



The radar station aerials feature in my photos and are exactly as they appear in the film so there is no doubt as to the location.

[caferacer63]

Now the special edition DVD has been released, a few more details have come to light. The trucks were supplied by the W.W. Drinkwater Company and as far has anyone can remember the colour of the trucks was dark bottle green.

[spinalman]

A chap posted an old clipping from the Shoreham Times of 1957 showing the filming. The quarry used for the crash was a much older and smaller one than the cement works. I'm sure it's all earlier in this Thread..... or another one very similar. Another poster recalled seeing the lorries next to the trees. It was near a radar station he worked at. I'm sure you'll find all this upthread.



Great that you've got your finger out and been there though. I keep driving past on the A27 and keep thinking I must pop up there some day..... I'll look forard to seeing some pix....

here's that grab:

[Automotivehistorian]

Drinkwater's were definitely bottle green..I remember! They used Parrot-beak Dodges, then LAD forward-control Dodge tippers..8 cubic yards. They had a base at Hounslow, which I remember, and I think that was on Hounslow Heath? Also, Bushey Heath, Herts! They would thus be fairly local to Denham.

[alan gowdy]

Hope this works - all new fangled stuff for me. Anyway, should be:



Quarry used in longshot where truck drives along top:







Turn-off to 'short cut', a succession of tightening views with aerials visible in the first:

[alan gowdy]

I have those photos on Photobucket now in correct size (Imageshack would not accept uploads) but can't seem to get them to display in forum.





Second larger quarry nearby where drop might have been staged:





Two more views of turnoff to "shortcut" Firstly, wide showing distinctive aerials:





Close shot of turn off. Note that line of saplings is no more:





Nighty night all.

[Chili Palmer]

Hi Peeps!

I was looking through google for Hell Drivers & found you all here..

I am a truck driver & have loved this film ever since I was a sprog I watched it with my dad donks ago,

He was at the time a tipper truck driver for S,M Tidy's a firm working out of Brighton

& he used to go to the chalk pit regularly, It's at the back of shoreham, Off the A283 that leads to steyning via upper beeding..

The old Blue Circle Cement Works

The bit were Biffer was talking about Ford Airfield & warningcamp tying in sounds about right they are very close together very near to Arundel so that could tye in!



Copy & Paste

Google Earth ref to Chalk Pit Shoreham :"Chalk Pits Shorham" lat=50.8651773827, lon=-0.291934858551

Ford Airfield :"Ford" lat=50.823537, lon=-0.58079

Warningcamp :"Warningcamp" lat=50.853808, lon=-0.534758



PS

It is the 50th anniversary this year of the making

[krazy guy]

I must say a big thank you to all of you chaps who have uncovered so much info on this film,my dad took me to see this movie when i was only seven,I have watched this film so many times,dad has moved on to the great highway in the sky now but i have so many lovely memories of this film.with him and i enjoying so many reruns,the kew dodge,what can i say what a lovely looking truck so sad there is not one from the film left(start looking in barns),i am going to visit some of the scenes,kinda corny but will think of old Jimmer(my dad) when im there,the pictures where the final scenes were shot ?,if anyone had shown me that picture i would have said HELL DRIVERS !!!,gonna go to Trulleigh hill ,take a shot of me THERE !!,old jimmer will smile,im so sure of that.Again a big thanks to you all,oh by the way the pick up truck,i think im right in saying this was a standard vanguard?,lovely to meet you guys via this forum.

[spinalman]

here is an 1946 aerial of the radar site just prior to the bunker being excavated and hence providing a backdrop to the film. scan about and you may find the pit on adjacent sequential frames.



http://www.geog.sussex.ac.uk/grc/inf...40/13-5167.jpg bottom right of frame



and the google equivalent now:



Flash Earth ...satellite and aerial imagery of the Earth in Flash



and the chalk pit IIRC... Flash Earth ...satellite and aerial imagery of the Earth in Flash



(not as detailed by chilli below which is the unrelated cement works)

[Terry]

Definitely Dark Green, WW Drinkwater tippers from Dudden Hill Lane, Willesden, West London.

They were running out of Rush Green Gravel pit, Hollybush Lane, Denham.

I used to work for them and so did 5 of my family members from an earlier generation when they were filming the sequences. The boss gave permission for his tippers to be used but nearly had a heart attack when he saw the film premier.

[Terry]

Most of Hell Drivers trucks were supplied by WWW Drinkwater, of Dudden Hill Lane, Willesden, West London. They ran out of Rush Green gravel pit, Hollybush Lane, Denham.

I used to work for them in the early seventies and knew most of the drivers that were used in the film sequences, although obviously not at the time of filming.

I have an older generation of family members who were working for WW Drinkwater at the time (5) and apparently the boss gave full permission for his tippers to be used, but when he saw how they had been used at the film premier, nearly had a heart attack and threatened to sue the film company!

[Automotivehistorian]

I have a Commercial Motor Show photo of a Drinkwater Cab-over-Engine Dodge 8 cu yard Tipper, probably in dark green, dating to 1960 I think. Phone numbers on trhe cab side are for GLAsgow..., DEN 2241 [Denham?], HOUnslow..., and Bushey Heath... I think Drinkwaters were at the gravel pits in Hounslow Heath as Greenhams were at Isleworth.

[Automotivehistorian]

As I said inthe other thread, the Dodge Tipper photo I have I am sure is dark green. Greenhams were also..green..but at some point went to light green. It seems that various tipper bodies were offered on the Kew Dodges of the type used in the film, judging by other photos I have collected.

[Terry]

WW Drinkwater were indeed on Hounslow Heath, also at Geenwich, Harefield Middlesex and Stonebridge Park on the North Circular aong with other locations around London, but their busiest ballast pit was Rush Green, Hollybush Lane, Denham, Buckinghamshire Nr Uxbridge.

The remnants are still there but WW Drinkwater sold out to Sabey of West Drayton, Middx in the early 80s and later they in turn sold out to AJ Bull of Mitcham.

The GLA prefix phone number was for Gladstone Park, Dollis Hill, London.

The scene where Mcgoohan went over the cliff was filmed at Denham, I know this because one of my 4 uncle's who worked for Drinkwater at that time, was extracting ballast on a dragline alongside the film crew whilst they were filming it.

I'm not sure where the other view was taken, I'll have to ask him!

[Moor Larkin]

The scene where Mcgoohan went over the cliff was filmed at Denham,

Some of the footage might have been but somebody here has posted pictures of the truck going over a quarry from a local newspaper in Shoreham, Sussex. I presume the actors did all their bits in Middlesex (hence your Uncle's account) but the truck crashing was done in Sussex. Maybe the quarry at Denham was not dramatic enough.

[Automotivehistorian]

One suggestion was that the works at what was to become the A4 Colnbrook by-pass was used, which again was not that far from Denham. I have no idea now if this was correct or not.



The old gravel pits at Hounslow Heath, just off Staines Road, was filled with rubbish, and then became the municipal golf course and recreational area.



I don't know if this was a coincidence or not, but A & L Bull Bros Limited were based in Winchester in 1956-7 and had a fleet of tippers used on gravel work, etc. A photo from 1956 that I have looks very much like the "Hawletts" HQ.