Convoy Filming Locations

In approximate order of the movie timeline, the filming locations are as
follows:

Opening Scenes -
The opening scene was filmed at White Sands Missile Range in White
Sands, NM, near Alamogordo, NM. The road they are on is now White
Sands Missile Base Route 10.

A lot of the other opening shots when we first meet Pig Pen and Spider Mike
were filmed on NM41 north of Moriarity, near Stanley NM. A few scenes are
intermixed from near Logan, NM and San Jon, NM. The scale house that the
trucks run later in the movie was rumored to be the old San Jon scale on US
66, although I'm getting more credible statements that San Jon was not the
scale used.

Lyle's Shakedown for Cash
The location where the Duck, Pig Pen and Spider Mike were caught in Lyle's
speedtrap was located on NM41, about 4 miles north of Stanley, NM. The
trucks were heading northbound and Lyle was sitting on the west side of the
highway. The picnic area is gone and a newer guardrail exists on the west
side of the highway.

Raphael's Silver Cloud -
Raphael's closed in late 2005, but as of mid 2006 was still located on I-25
about 20 minutes north of Albuquerque in a town called Algodones. It is
currently for sale. The exit where Raphael's is State Route 474, aka
Algodones. It is just 5 miles or so northeast of the intersection of US-550
and State Route 313 where the Black Widow's Brockway 361 overturned
accidentally. The outer road you see in front of Raphael's now runs
approximately over the top of the location of the old fuel island. At the time
of filming, the north-south highway that is now I-25 only occupied what are
now the southbound lanes of I-25

The Billboard and Barn Crash

This scene, originally built as a set north of Madrid NM on Highway 10, the
set was rebuilt after a suspected arson fire, this time near Placitas on NM
Highway 165 about 2 miles east of Bernalillo where the Brockway
overturned. They filmed with the vehicles heading west towards Bernalillo
on NM 165.

The Old Back Way Into New Mexico -
The road used in this shoot is located off of I-25 northeast of Albuquerque
from exit 264. The road is really named "Baja Waldo Road" but after a local
resident tried unsuccessfully to change the official name to "Peckinpaugh
Rd" (Peckinpah is spelled incorrectly, I know), the name apparently stuck.
Google and other mapping software list the road as "Peckinpaugh Rd".

Town where the band is playing, home to "18 Wheel Eddie" -
The town is a compilation of shots of Las Vegas, NM up along I-25 about 3
hours northeast of Albuquerque, Belen NM and Los Lunas, NM south of
Albuquerque. The truck stop at the north end of Santa Fe was one of the
staging and summoning areas for the impromptu convoys the production
crew arranged. This is the same location we see trucks leaving from when
we hear Widow say "we keep pigs, cesspools and foul odors all the way at
back."    As the convoy leaves town and the interview begins, the trucks are
actually leaving Belen, NM and heading back north on I-25 towards
Albuquerque.

Alverez, TX, aka Trucker's Hell -
The actual town name is Estancia, NM. It is about 30 miles south of I-40 and
an hour or so east of Albuquerque. The main street of town you see is NM
Route 41. The jail house and adjacent hotel (which have long since burned
down) was at the intersection of NM 41 and Allen Road.   A number of other
scenes were filmed here that ended up on the cutting room floor. The jail
and most of the wrecked buildings were built by the studio carpenters, they
were not pre-existing buildings.

Pig Pen Hits the Ice Cream Truck -
This scene is filmed on Old US 66 (Route 6) at Main St. (Rte. 314) in Los
Lunas, NM. The restaurant the Ice Cream Truck backs out of is the Country
Inn Bar and is still there today. As a side note, the ice cream vendor is Bob
Visciglia, the Property Manager for the film and a long-time Peckinpah
friend.

Final Bridge Scene -
After searching nationwide for months for a bridge from which to shoot the
explosion scene, Peckinpah and his crew finally found the old US 95 bridge
in Needles, CA overr the Colorado River between Needles, CA and Mohave
Valley, AZ.   Although very close in proximity, it was not the Red Rock bridge
south of Needles where I-40 now crosses the Colorado River. The
intersection of Mint Rd. and Aqua View Dr. as seen in the Duck's final
approach to the bridge with Melissa is still alive and well in Mohave Valley,
AZ just a few blocks from where the old bridge was located.

On the day of filming, it was 120 degrees in the shade in Needles, and
Peckinpah was insistent on the truck traveling north from Needles to Mohave
Valley. They were on the third set of effects people, because Peckinpah
kept firing the staff or they were outright quitting. After numerous
complications, the stunt was set from north to south as we see in the movie.
Several different run throughs were filmed, first with the 1977 Mack and
surviving trailer to show the rear initial explosion, then again with the Mack
that went into the river and the trailer that blew up. For this scene, the
tractor was pulled across with a cable set up by the tank, and the trailer was
pulled behind with another cable. The trailer was disconnected from the
tractor, and the front of the trailer was supported by the "tricycle" axle from
the old Elgin street sweeper from Needles, CA.

Duck's Funeral -
After confirmation from historical newspaper articles and crew interviews, we
have confirmed that the Funeral scene was filmed at the New Mexico State
Fairgrounds in Albuquerque. Also, some of the in-cab interviews between
Chuck Arnoldi and the drivers were filmed here as well.

Special Thanks to Margaret Anaya for some details and first-hand accounts.
Also, special thanks to Luke Fitch and his family who are residents of the
Galisteo/Peckinpaugh Road area.

All current pictures Copyright 2009, Dan Bruno and
www.stlouisdumptrucks.com.

Vintage pictures shown above are provided courtesy of Johnny Bruhn.