A shop with a history
I thought your readers, particularly the Tasmanian ones, might be interested in these photos. As far as I can determine this shop started around 1923 when Fanton and Burn who already had an old motorcycle shop in Temperence Lane, Melville Street, Hobart, went into business with Eric Valentine and moved to 72-84 Argyle Street selling mainly Harley-Davidson, Brough Superior, AJS, Ariel and Levis. It had a few name variations over the years – Valentine Motors, Fanton and Valentine, but mainly known as Fanton, Burns and Valentine.
This business seems to have operated until around 1945-46 when Ted Nichols moved from his existing shop at 34 Argyle Street from where he had operated since around 1933. Ted had previously worked for F.S. Beauchamp at 19 Argyl Street, who sold Indian and BSA as well as his own brand Austral Motorcycles and pushbikes. Around the time Ted Nichols moved to the Fanton, Burns and Valentine site, Donald Gorridge also started selling motorcycles from there as well and also from another outlet in Melville St. At least one of these businesses operated until around 1965 when Webster Limited moved their bearing department to that site. Kevin Hawke, a well known motorcyclists from the 50s – 60s was given the job of disposing of the unwanted new and used motorcycle parts and took many loads to the old Newtown Bay tip, including around 200 sets of girder forks, only keeping 2 large boxes of springs, mainly new, which I purchased from him just a few years ago. The old shop site is soon to be developed for U Tas. Around 1969 I went to Bilyards and Kings Motorcycles to buy an approved helmet for racing and was introduced to Ted Nichols who sold me a helmet. It appears that Cyril Klye at Bilyards and Kings must have employed Ted after he closed up on Argyle St. The first shop that Ted had at 34 Argyle St had been a motorcycle shop since the first days of motorcycling with a chap by the name of Sutton and I think Lew Terry might have been there selling early Triumphs and later Wally Gahgan had a shop there called The Harley Depot for some time. This site is now the Vibe Hotel opposite Hobart Private Hospital.
From Jeff Frankcombe