History of Frank Allen Tyres

Frank Allen, the founder of Frank Allen Tyres, started working in the tyre industry in the late 1960s, following a period as a medic in the Royal New Zealand Navy.

A keen punter, he was a member of a group that won a major jackpot at a race meeting and with his share he attempted to purchase an existing tyre business on Auckland's North Shore. His bid was rejected so in 1972 he established his own business in Archers Road, Takapuna in a building adjacent to the present Frank Allen Tyres store.

The store was the shop window and out the back he and two staff began retreading cross ply tyres.

Seizing an opportunity, he put a delivery van on the road to service retreading for other tyre retailers and the business grew steadily.

In 1974 a second store was opened on the Great South Road in Penrose but it was the retreading side of the business that was growing strongly. New machinery and moulds were added and by the late 1970s there were seven vans servicing Auckland, Whangarei, Thames and Paeroa daily with three times a week service to Hamilton, Rotorua and Tauranga.

The retail side of the business grew overnight in the early 1980s when Frank Allen bought the National Tyres retail outlets operated by Motor Traders Tyres in Grey Lynn, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua and Takanini and new branches were opened in Whangarei and Glen Innes. Frank Allen's alignment with Goodyear helped expand sales in the region.

With nine retail stores and a retread factory working 24 hours a day the business was expanding rapidly. Radial and light truck moulds were added to the retreading capacity. Calendar rolling equipment had also been installed in the factory enabling it to produce its own retreading rubber from raw materials. By this time the factory was producing 2,500 passenger retreads a week and the staff had expanded to 40.

It looked an attractive proposition to investment company Abbacus Holdings Ltd and they made Frank an offer too good to refuse. He sold. Within a year the business had changed hands again. The new owners were Hellaby Holdings, who, in 1988 sold it to Pacific Dunlop Ltd.

Pacific Dunlop, who already operated a retread factory in the South Auckland, combined the retreading operations on their site at East Tamaki and eventually built a new flagship store on the site immediately adjacent to former factory in Archers Road.

The relationship with the Goodyear brand has continued since the development of the South Pacific Tyres joint venture between Pacific Dunlop and Goodyear Tires Corp and Frank Allen Tyres is a major outlet for Goodyear and Dunlop tyres in the Auckland region. There are now 23 stores with more than 60 staff operating under the red green and yellow colours.