It is with deep sorrow that i have learnt tonight that the Legend Chris “Hooperman” Hooper has sadly passed away.
A true Legend of the middle east routes and a Gentleman also.
I got a text today telling me of his passing, A true gentleman whose knowledge and wisdom has helped me many times - he will be sorely missed by many.
RIP, sadly never met the guy but from what I read he lived many lifetimes and one of the few, true experts in the industry, I hope maybe an astran truck is able to attend the funeral
Rikki-UK:
I got a text today telling me of his passing, A true gentleman whose knowledge and wisdom has helped me many times - he will be sorely missed by many.
RIP Chris Hooper, legend
My condolences. I met Chris on several occasions both on and off the M/E run; one of the nicest of which was on that stretch of road on the flats between the Qatari border and Hofhuf in Saudi. It was 16th December 2001 and I was returning from Doha alone. Chris was coming in the other direction and must have spotted me before I saw him and he flashed me up. We pulled over, brewed tea and exchanged news of the road in the time-honoured way. I really hadn’t been expecting to see another Brit until Istanbul at the very least, as it was both a very quiet time of the year and a quiet period in Middle-East traffic. It is a privilege to have known him. RIP mate. Robert
Met him once in 2001 followed him from Patras to Istanbul, I learned a lot from him in that 2 - 3 days. He even stayed around at the Turkish border to make sure I was all processed and finished, holding himself up by a few hours. RIP Chris.
RIP Chris,have a safe last trip.
Danne
A very sad time…My good friend since I was 18yrs old, 1981, we first met in Wapping at Dutch Alberts yard, I can still remember it.
Safe trip my friend.
I will miss you.
GS Overland.
Sadly never met Mr Chris Hooper, but boy would I have loved to, to sit & listen to all those years of knowledge & experience! I loved his articles in the Trucking mags, clearly a very inteligent/resourceful man & businessman too. A shame he never wrote a book, with his experiences & photos etc it would have been an awesome read. RIP.
Hi ADR
You would have enjoyed the company of Chris ! He didn’t suffer fools lightly and said it as it was…Chris was supposed to have been putting down his story on paper but alas he didn’t finish it, not sure if he even started it !! I will find out, probably loads of notes and photos. He was always slow, every morning, knock on his cab, Knock Knock,
“come on we’re going”
“alright”
Roll a Van Nelle,
dust the cab,
put the kettle on…
"C’mon mate, we’re going…
“Alright, in a minute”
“See ya later, I’m going”
Then he would catch us up later when we were parked up.
That was Chris “Hooperman” Hooper.
A long time friend and mentor.
GS Overland
Thanks to Trucky Mc Truckface for starting this thread.
RIP Chris Hooper.
Grew up reading about this fella and he sounded like a real character.
GS OVERLAND, Has anyone done more trips on the Middle East run in your opinion ? He was doing it for years.
Hopefully this article will bring back some good memories of the fella.
Click on pages twice to read.
Just read that post by DeanB and there are two points of interest that spring to mind for me, the first is that the mention of Barry Barnes who I know as he is from my neck of the woods although slightly older than me and towards the end of his middle east driving he used to do the one way job that is buy a unit and trailer, load it to the middle east and when empty sell it and fly home. He once bought an old Merc from a subbie of ours and when he got back he reckoned it took a week longer to do the job as it was so sluggish, also his mother was one of the cooks in my primary school and that is a very long time ago.
The second thing of note was a picture of Scania G88 XBK which I bought new also G86 & G87, I knew G88 went on to do Middle East work but did not know who had it but that it worked for Astran after it left us, it was LHD as that’s all we buy for our International work, never knew you but RIP Mr Hooper Cheers Buzzer.
PS. Cant find a picture of G88 but here is its sister motor G87.
R.I.P. Mr hooper, never met you but you are a true legend, a sad sad day.
condolences to all familey & friends.
Thanks for putting those magazine pages up, fascinating reading, I thought I had most magazines with mentions of Chris or Astran but obviously not.
It really highlights the importance of the skills needed to do that job and it saddens me to think that those qualities are disappearing fast, at least in this country anyway and I wonder how many of todays drivers would cope.
When I said cheerio to Chris on the outskirts of Istanbul in 2001 I had to go into the city centre (which I was dreading as I had never been outside western Europe) I remember thinking about him and his onward journey and what he would see and experience and I really wished I could follow him, and from that day on I’ve had a fascination with the middle east run and admire anybody who did it, hats off to you all.
RIP Chris and condolences to the family.
DEANB:
RIP Chris HoooperGS OVERLAND, Has anyone done more trips on the Middle East run in your opinion ? He was doing it for years.
Hi DeanB
I doubt it, not round trips anyway, the only other contender is Barry Barnes.
GS OVERLAND:
DEANB:
RIP Chris HoooperGS OVERLAND, Has anyone done more trips on the Middle East run in your opinion ? He was doing it for years.
Hi DeanB
I doubt it, not round trips anyway, the only other contender is Barry Barnes.
Or maby you Gavin?
Danne