Hooper (coachbuilder)
Encyclopedia
Coachbuilder
A coachbuilder is a manufacturer of bodies for carriages or automobiles.The trade dates back several centuries. Rippon was active in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Barker founded in 1710 by an officer in Queen Anne's Guards, Brewster a relative newcomer , formed in 1810. Others in Britain included...
company based in London.
Founding
The company was founded as Adams and Hooper in 1805 and held a royal warrant from 1830, building elegant horse drawn carriages, supplying them to King William IV, Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. The first royal car, a Hooper body on a Daimler chassis, was delivered to SandringhamSandringham
Sandringham can refer to:Places*Sandringham, Johannesburg, a suburb of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa*Sandringham, Norfolk, a village in Norfolk, England*Sandringham House in the aforementioned village, owned by the British Royal Family...
on 28 March 1900. As Hooper they moved into motor bodies at the turn of the 20th century.
Market
Hooper specialized in the very top tier of the market, building the most luxurious bodies possible without consideration of cost. The models were not sporty, as the company specialized in stately, elegant carriages. In 1911, Hooper built an extension onto their Kings Road works, due to increased customer demand. Their London showroom, opened 1896 (possibly earlier), was on the corner of St James' Street and Bennet Street.Aircraft
During World War I, Hooper turned to aircraft manufacture, eventually producing Sopwith CamelSopwith Camel
The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. Manufactured by Sopwith Aviation Company, it had a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful rotary engine, and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns. Though difficult...
s at the rate of three a day. With peace, the firm returned to coachbuilding. They weathered the Great Depression of the 1930s far better than most coachbuilders, even building a second factory in Acton, West London. In the peak year of 1936, more than 300 bodies were built.
With re-armament in the late 1930s, another factory was opened in Park Royal, London, on Western Avenue, next to the Callard & Bowser confectionery works
Callard & Bowser-Suchard
Callard & Bowser is a division of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company that specializes in confectionery manufacture. It currently makes Altoids breath mints....
, and during World War II, they built fuselage sections for De Havilland Mosquito
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
bombers, Airspeed Oxford
Airspeed Oxford
The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford was a twin-engine aircraft used for training British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombing and gunnery during the Second World War.-Design and development:...
s and gliders.
Expansion
In 1938 Hooper acquired rivals Barker who were in receivership. Barker retained its separate identity.Hooper was acquired by The Daimler Motor Company
Daimler Motor Company
The Daimler Motor Company Limited was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H J Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The right to the use of the name Daimler had been purchased simultaneously from Gottlieb Daimler and Daimler Motoren...
in 1940, becoming part of the BSA
Birmingham Small Arms Company
This article is not about Gamo subsidiary BSA Guns Limited of Armoury Road, Small Heath, Birmingham B11 2PP or BSA Company or its successors....
industrial group.
Lady Docker's cars and the end of an era
Post war, Hooper became famous for making a series of outrageously-bodied large DaimlerDaimler Motor Company
The Daimler Motor Company Limited was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H J Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The right to the use of the name Daimler had been purchased simultaneously from Gottlieb Daimler and Daimler Motoren...
s for Lady Docker
Norah, Lady Docker
Norah Docker, Lady Docker was an English socialite.Daughter of Amy and Sydney Turner, she was originally a successful dance hall hostess and was noted for her colourful lifestyle.-Marriages:...
, the wife of the BSA chairman. This season's extravagant new Docker Daimler was exhibited each October at the London Motor Show
British International Motor Show
The British International Motor Show is an automobile show held biennially in the United Kingdom. It is recognised as an international show by the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles. The 2008 was the last event with no news of a return of the British International Motor Show...
.
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- Docker Daimlers
- 1951 Stardust or The Golden Daimler, limousine
- 1952 Blue Clover, 5 seater saloon
- 1953 Silver Flash, 2 seater fixed head coupé
- 1954 Star Dust, limousine
- 1955 Golden Zebra, 2 door fixed head coupé
- Docker Daimlers
As the era of building cars on separate chassis was ending, and with it the market for complete bodies, Hooper completed the transition from wood-framed bodywork to bodies built over a skeleton of cast or extruded aluminium. Cast alloy was first used about 1933 in door and windscreen pillars where the 'fight' between roof and scuttle structures tended to cause cracking.
Monocoque
Monocoque
Monocoque is a construction technique that supports structural load by using an object's external skin, as opposed to using an internal frame or truss that is then covered with a non-load-bearing skin or coachwork...
construction became standard. Daimler, their in-group chassis supplier, was to be sold to Jaguar, Hooper's was probably unsaleable. Rolls Royce and Bentley intimated their plans to cease series production of separate-chassis cars. The final bespoke body was finished in October 1959 and, at the end of 1959, BSA transferred the remaining business to a new entity, Hooper (Motor Services) Ltd, which acted as a sales and service company. It became, in 1970, a Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce Limited
Rolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....
distributor.
Archives
- Science MuseumScience Museum (London)The Science Museum is one of the three major museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is part of the National Museum of Science and Industry. The museum is a major London tourist attraction....
, South Kensington, London - Hooper (Coachbuilders) & Co. Ltd. – original design drawings and motor car construction records c1910-59 - Denver Public LibraryDenver Public LibraryThe Denver Public Library is the public library of the city of Denver, Colorado in the United States. Its administrative headquarters is on the 7th floor of the Central Library in Downtown Denver. , the library system had 2,519,977 items in its collection, and a library card base of 417,616 local...
- items from Hooper and Company records, 1947-1979 - received from Rippey's Veteran Car Museum (Denver, Colo.) including the collection of Osmond Rivers, Hooper designer 1930s to 1950s and Managing Director
