From a 1982 travel map, it seems that Adelaide once had 13 Drive-ins theatres, two more than Brisbane and only one less than Sydney.

Only one of them is still going today, the Wallis Mainline Drive-In at Gepps Cross. Using the site as a weekly Trash n Treasure market helps to keep it viable.

From the air it looks like this:

The other Adelaide drive ins were:

* Gilles Plains - now houses. The rectangular shape is just recongisable from the air.
* Hectorville - now a flat, rectangular vacant lot next to a Mitre 10 hardware.
* Mansfield Park - now houses. The old shape is just recognisable from the air.
* Marion (Glengowrie) - now houses next to the bus depot.
* Mitchell Park - now an industrial area and Homemaker centre betweem Marion Rd and the river.
* Modbury - now houses and industrial land.
* Osborne - now houses. Can't really tell exactly which block was the drive-in.
* Panorama - now houses. Can't really tell exactly which block was the drive-in.
* Salisbury Downs - now the Hollywood Shopping Centre. The old screen still exists and is used as a billboard for the shopping centre.
* Seaton Park - now houses and the Links Tavern, plus various shops.
* West Beach - now houses. No sign of which exact block used to be the drive-in.

Those, plus the still active Gepps Cross drive-in, makes twelve. The 13th Adelaide Drive-in is still there!

* O'Halloran's Hill, off Majors Rd. It has been closed for many years, but the site is still much as it was. It looks like the screen is still there, as well as the foundations and frame of the projection/restaurant block. The ramps are still visible. Only the ticket booths have been demolished. The site doesn't seem to be fenced off, so it should be easy to visit.

Can some of our Adelaide people go and take some photos and post here for us?

I remember the ones at Panorama (I grew up near there - they used the land near there to crash a plane for a film in the '70s, all houses and a big church now), Marion and O'Halloran hill, though I don't remember actually going to any of them. I probably did but was too young to remember. I didn't know there was anything left of the O'Halloran hill one other than an empty paddock. Haven't been up that way in a while though.

My drive in memories are: watching the first Ghostbusters movie with my family at Pt Elliot (south coast of SA near Victor Harbour) when it was a new release. I must have been 6 or 7. The second on only other memory is from about 10 years ago - went to a suburban drive in (Seaton Pk maybe) with friends to see the awful 'Escape from LA' or was it New York? It had Kurt Russell in it and we left after about 20mins, but we weren't the first to leave. We really did think it was shite.



PS there was (maybe still is) a Trash n Treasure market at the Marion drive in as well. A couple of friends used to work there directing cars in the carpark on sunday mornings when they weren't 'sick' (hungover).

Man this brought back some memories! Got my first......errrrr,i think we'll leave that alone here! I remember O'halloran Hill pretty well,and Marion
Ofcourse,progress takes over and these sorts of things suffer.Shame really

Phil74Camper

I think Phil has a fetish for Drive in Movies theaters

He may have been conceived in a VW at a showing in around 1963 or 64 LOL

good work Phil keep it up lots of interesting things and stories

Think Mitsi's used to store cars at the O'Halloran hill one, great place for graffiti now. haven't been there for a while now.
T54

ther also used to be one at hillbank (inbetween elizabeth and salisbury) way way before there was houses now there is a petrol station there.

Dave, yes I love drive-ins, but not for that reason! Dad always said I wasn't conceived in his VW - he and Mum moved into the Padstow house in June '63 and I came along 9 months later. It must have been some housewarming party...

But yeah going to the drive-in was part of growing up. Everyone has wonderful memories of them. Youngsters who have never been, and are now getting their first VWs, should make a point of going. Brisbane (Beenleigh), Sydney (Blacktown), Melbourne (Coburg and Dandenong), Adelaide (Gepps Cross) and Perth (Westleigh) all still have a working drive-in. VW clubs should try to organise runs to them!

Glad these researchers are bring back good memories. Yes Matt I knew there was a drive-in up Elizabeth way, but my '82 travel map doesn't go up that far and I didn't know where it was. You can't tell from Google Earth today where it was. In fact, even when you do know where a drive-in was, it's sometimes difficult to spot thanks to the redevelopment and building, and roadworks, that have gone on in the years since. Thanks for the info. It would also be nice to expand to country drive-ins (such as Victor Harbour, and the Riverland areas) but I don't have any specific info on where they were.

I will start another post for Melbourne drive-ins as soon as I sort out where they all were. Maybe some Melbourne VW guys could start us off?