The Last Checkered Flag: David Hooper
/David Rowland Hooper, Designer and Engineer -Darell Allard
David hooper getting technical with bob lytle (left) and bill boone (middle) in New zealand
In his time David was Draughtsman, Designer and Chief Engineer for the Allard Motor Company.
He joined the company on a ‘5 year’ Apprentice in 1949. His apprenticeship covered all aspects of vehicle manufacture with at least 6 months being spent in each department. Chassis production, fabrication and development, machine shop, electrical and the drawing office.
At the end of his studies he had to leave the company to do two years National Service with the Royal Air Force. At the end of his time in the RAF he had a chat with Sydney Allard and decided to give up the idea of joining de Havilland and he re-joined The Allard Motor Company.
He remained with the company until 1965 when he left to join the GLC, taking up a post involving the development of ambulance vehicles – a continuation of the work he had been involved with whilst working for Allards.
During his time with the company he was involved in many design projects, including the development of the J2 and he also, with Sydney’s blessing, designed the Farrallac for Don Farrall.
Much to the annoyance of Dudley R. Hume, the Chief Draftsman, he signed his drawings with his initials DRH. As Dudley thought he was taking the mickey he insisted David provide his Birth Certificate to prove they had identical initials!
During his time in the RAF David started to think about building his own ‘Special’. He said it took years to build but was finally registered as 20 RPH. I don’t know when or how well it did in competition.
I first met David 62 years ago in 1961. It was at Brands Hatch when the First Dragster, which David had designed, was being demonstrated. Due to design regulations in this country, it was prevented from being as competitive as he wished, which was always a great disappointment to him.
In 1961 David offered, in exchange for running, to rebuild the iconic Steyr Hillclimb Special that Sydney had used to win the 1949 British Hillclimb Championship. It was on a trailer ‘in storage’ behind the Clapham High Street factory. He got it to his garage in Purley and spent time over the next 3 years restoring it to its original state. Over the next few years he ran it at Eelsmore Plain, Valance Hill Climb, and the Blackbushe Drag Festival.
My main memory of watching him at Blackbushe, in the pouring rain, was seeing him beat Chris Summers in his very powerful Cooper Monaco. Apart from a broken inner drive shaft at the second Valance meeting he had no major failures. The car is now in a private museum in the USA.
David designed a MacPherson style suspension which was fitted to the works Safari. In later years a variation of his design was fitted to the Mk2 Palm Beach. He spent months as part of the team developing the Clipper, which he described as ‘an almost impossible project’, and the building of two Midget racing cars for Wimbledon Speedway. David describes the day when Ronnie Moore was testing it and managed to roll it whilst at low speed, resulting in a broken collarbone.
As well as the production of their own cars, the company was always looking for projects to fill their under-utilised workshop facilities. So, David was also involved with prototype equipment for emptying parking meters, a sausage making machine, London Taxi’s, ambulance rear axle conversations for Hong Kong, Yorkshire Ambulance and the LCC.
On his retirement, after 25 years with the GLC, David’s interest in cars was replaced by boats and over the following years, he and his partner Pat, had a canal boat built for them and they enjoyed many Canal trips and involvement with the marina fraternity.
However, in 2003 he was contacted by Andy Picariello, US Allard Membership Secretary, and arranged to meet him together with Jim and Sheila Tiller at an Allard Club Night at the Marquis of Granby.
In the 1960’s David had worked on modifications to Jim’s car ‘The Old Fella’, and as Jim had, the previous year, made his record-breaking trip to the Bonneville salt flats it was almost inevitable that David would again become involved, working on more modifications prior to Jim’s appearance at The Brighton Speed Trials.
Together with Pat he undertook several visits to meet up with Allardists in the USA culminating with him and I being invited, together with Brian Redman, to judge the Allard entry at the prestigious 2011 Amelia Island Concours in Florida.
Left to Right: david hooper, brian redman, and darell allard judged the allard class at amelia island in 2011
As a font of all Allard knowledge, he was happy to assist anyone who needed help relating to their Allards, giving technical information and producing many drawings. He did drawings for many club members and helped me modify the gear lever system on my P type from column to floor change, so that it replicated the winning Monte Carlo Rally car, which I remember as a child when it was parked at our home in Bolney.
In fact, it was only a few days before he passed away he told me, he had one more drawing to do and he thought it would be his last.
Many of these details have been taken from David’s memoirs. “Reflections on my years with the Allard Motor Company Ltd and Beyond”. He has been writing them over the last few years and the week before he died he told me he just needed to make a few amendments it would then be complete, we could then have it to proof read and edit.
His memory remained sharp and he was able to clearly recall technical details and memories of events. He was a stickler for accuracy and would say ‘Why can’t people get their facts right – they only have to ask – I know how is was, after all I was there.’
Sadly he is no longer here to share his knowledge and memories.
David we will miss you.
-Darell Allard
Some Memories of David -Chuck Warnes
Andy Picariello bought his Allard J2 back in 1963. As one might expect, a 13 year-old retired race car back in those days had led a rough life, and it needed a lot of work. Andy was fortunate to get plugged into Dave, who proved to be an invaluable resource for Andy’s meticulous restoration project - which developed into a close, long-term friendship. Up to that point Dave had never traveled beyond the British Isles, but thanks to Andy’s support and encouragement that was about to change.
I first met Dave in 2006 when he and Pat came over to accompany 25 Allards on the Northwest Tour. Next was the 2008 Southern Festival of Speed on New Zealand’s south island where he provided valuable technical support for several Allard owners. As Darell mentioned, he and Dave – along with Brian Redman – served at judges for the Allard class at the 2011 Amelia Island Concours in Florida. A year later we again welcomed the opportunity to visit with Dave at Texas World Speedway where we continued to pick David’s body of knowledge on Allard-related technical matters.
David Hooper sharing his knowledge in portland
Over the years Dave has provided insightful articles to the Allard Register including:
I, along with many Allard owners, value the opportunities we had to know David over the years.