Hell Drivers

[Jim]

Originally Posted by Biffer Any film directors out there looking to hire a 'vintage' Ford Escort should please contact me a.s.a.p. (preferably before the MoT runs out next month!) Right! I'm off down the shops to get the old rust-bucket - er - vintage Ford - insured up to the big-ends and beyond ..... : "Biffer"

Nice one Biffer!

[Automotivehistorian]

I am Deputy Editor of VINTAGE ROADSCENE magazine and have been fascinated by HELL DRIVERS since I first saw it on TV, having been born in the summer of 1955. The new DVD is out now and I must get hold of a copy as I want to check all the locations. If someone fancies putting together a definitive list in addition to what has been posted please let me know. If the trolleybus route is correct, then I assume that the shop is in Brentford High Street, right opposite North Thames Gas's gasworks? I remember it well as we used to go and see my mum's aunts in South Ealing which meant we travelled by 117 bus to Brentford ..Half Acre? then got out and walked round the corner and got the 65 bus to South Ealing Station. We lived in Feltham until 1965 then Hounslow West. If one of the locations was indeed the Colnbrook By-pass, now part of the A4 just west of what was London Airport, then we must have been over it by car not that long after it was built.

The Janes Bros company fascinates. There is no trace on the PRO site of any corporate records. That is not unusual as old company records from that period have often been destroyed. The Companies House site reveals two companies with similar names have been dissolved within the last 15 years and records should exist. It is possible to ask them when a company was formed, given the number, and when it changed its name, and also you can request them to look up an old company name and they can tell you when it was incorporated and when it was dissolved/changed its name even though no papers remain. The Buckingham Avenue road the company was in was of course part of the Slough Trading Estate. Records exist at Slough Estates' HQ of all tenant companies. I have researched the history of the Estate from its inception to the Sixties extensively in the past as there is so much automotive history associated with the Estate. However I cannot see any evidence of the company at this juncture.

I also know the Ford Aerodrome site well. Part of it was of course subsumed under the HMP although parts was still agricultural some years back. The industrial estate was acquired by Ken Rudd, the famous racing driver and owner of a car dealership in Worthing. He also had a boat-building business that used Ford engines and so he installed Ford engines in AC Ace cars that he sold. Hence the "Rudford" estate! He may well have owned the buildings at the time that the film was made...I cannot recall when the FAA vacated.

[Wee Sonny MacGregor]

Janes - I would guess that the company paid to get into Kelly's Directory in 1939?

It's a few years since I looked up company records but I'd be surprised if the catalogues on the PRO/National Archives website go down to the level of detail to identify a specific company's records. Defunct company records used to be catalogued under BT for Board of Trade and in class 31. So the PRO/National Archives would have stored any records under BT31. But they would have been thinned over the years by weeding before ending up at the PRO. It could mean a trip to Kew or perhaps a telephone call first of all to ascertain if there's anything in BT31. Again from memory, I think the index in BT31 is quite easily to access.

Other than that, perhaps a letter to the local rag might bring forward someone who knew the firm or even worked there.

[Automotivehistorian]

The PRO PROCAT as was does indeed reveal defunct companies' files in the BT31 series. In addition Companies House have an old book and a successor system that can tell whether Kew have the old papers or whether they were destroyed. Regrettably I have done too much corporate archival study! Janes should be in Kelly's until they moved/went bust as entry was free excepting you could pay for a larger entry or advertise.

The 657 trolleybus route ran until 1962 from Hounslow (Duke of Wellington) (trolleybus turning circle corner Wellington Road South and Staines Road...remember it well!!) to Shepherd's Bush and ran along the Brentford High Street headed for Shepeherd's Bush. I gather that the High Street was redeveloped in stages on the north side from 1959, so the 1957 view would have been before any work had started back towards Isleworth. I also found online that the dance hall sequence was filmed in the Canning Town area.

[Moor Larkin]

Is everyone aware of the internet movie cars database in the world of identifying vehicles in movies/TV? I was particularly entranced to discover a Kew Dodge popping up in the world of John Drake....

IMCDb.org: 1950 Dodge Kew in "Danger Man, 1960-1961"

No entries for Hell Drivers, so far as I could see.

[Wee Sonny MacGregor]

I managed to track down copies of Kellys for 1978 and 1986. The only road transport company shown in Slough for both years is Thamesbrook Transport Ltd, coincidentally based at Buckingham Avenue (number 2c). Thamesbrook was set up in 1953 but dissolved in 1997. Could be pure coincidence that two such companies were based in Buckingham Avenue over the years, or maybe they took over Janes??

[Automotivehistorian]

THAMESBROOK TRANSPORT LIMITED
2C BUCKINGHAM AVENUE
SLOUGH
SL1 4NE
Company No. 00515821


Status: Dissolved 14/11/1997
Date of Incorporation: 05/02/1953

Very interesting! Now we need Slough Library to check their Kelly's!

[hankoler]

I would imagine them to be in british racing green, considering its about who can do the most runs!

[Shadwell]

Originally Posted by Steve Crook Well they are a gang of young men that like to hang out together - and wear leather Steve

LOL!!!

[Automotivehistorian]

I hope to be doing an article in VINTAGE ROADSCENE top tie in with the release by Network of the latest DVD. I keep imagining the Dodge Kews [100 series? model 105?] to be dark green, the colour of a similar company to Rawlett's, Drinkwater..although Greenhams of Isleworth also used green. Then again why would the colourised publicity shot not be accurate?

I just wish I could pin down all of the locations used.

[grwblunden]

hi there, was wondering where you found this photo! i like the film a lot and am especially a sid james fan.

[Automotivehistorian]

Movie Market (UK) - Hell Drivers Photo - B72297

[Wee Sonny MacGregor]

Seeing as I'd done the research and my last posting on Hell Drivers was lost in the recent crash, I thought I re-post. Telephone directories show the following:

1957
Janes (Builders) Ltd, Public Works Contractors, Buckingham Avenue, Slough 20361
Janes (Builders) Ltd, Public Works Contractors, Broadmoor, Crowthorne 2804
Janes (Builders) Ltd, Public Works Contractors, RAF Medmenham, Marlow 1027
Janes & Co, Sand Ballast Transport, Buckingham Avenue, Slough 20361

1961
Janes (Builders) Ltd, Public Works Contractors, Buckingham Avenue, Slough 20361
Janes (Builders) Ltd, Public Works Contractors, Bandfield Close Estate, Thatcham 2264
Janes & Co, Sand Ballast Transport, Buckingham Avenue, Slough 20361
Janes Transport Ltd, Weston Rd Trading Estate, Slough 22466

1963
Janes (Builders) Ltd, Public Works Contractors, Buckingham Avenue, Slough 20361
Janes (Builders) Ltd, Public Works Contractors, RAF Medmenham, Marlow 3835
Janes (Builders) Ltd, New Building Site, London Rd, Newbury 1475
Janes & Co, Sand Ballast Transport, Buckingham Avenue, Slough 20361
Janes Transport Ltd, Weston Rd Trading Estate, Slough 22466

1965
Janes (Builders) Ltd, Public Works Contractors, Buckingham Avenue, Slough 20361
Janes (Builders) Ltd, Public Works Contractors, Patten Ash Drive, Wokingham 75
Janes (Builders) Ltd, site office, Cheveley, Dropmore Rd, Burnham 2703
Janes & Co, Sand Ballast Transport, Buckingham Avenue, Slough 20361
Janes Transport Ltd, Weston Rd Trading Estate, Slough 22466

1969
Janes (Builders) Ltd Public Works Contractors, Buckingham Avenue, Slough 20361
Janes (Builders) Ltd Public Works Contractors, Patten Ash Drive, Wokingham 291
Janes Transport Ltd, Buckingham Avenue, Slough 22466

1970
Janes (Builders) Ltd Public Works Contractors, Buckingham Avenue, Slough 20361

The sand ballast transport division looks a likely candidate for vehicle supplier. Finally, I think this company may be H C Janes of Luton who were a long established builders and developers across the region. Janes was taken over by Barratt Homes in December 1975.

[alan gowdy]

As this was on the BBC the other night - and I'd never seen it - I've recorded it to view later. The bit I did watch before tiredness overcame me was intriguing: what an extraordinary cast list. I look forward to ferreting out the locations - especially the Sussex ones quite close to where I live. The only thing that did not work was the ludicrously undercranked camera work to accentuate the impression of speed. Tut tut.

[Moor Larkin]

Originally Posted by alan gowdy ludicrously undercranked camera work to accentuate the impression of speed.

I wonder if the cinema's big-screen size would have made that speed appear less ludicrous. I was always curious at how fast a Kew Dodge could actually go: 50mph top speed? Just guessing......

I can recall in the Sixties when my dad first got a car that we used to get very excited when we got to a stretch of road that had a speed limit of 40mph - and dad would press the pedal to the metal and our hearts would beat faster....

Now some nutters reach 50+ just in my cul-de-sac......