The Advance Motor Manufacturing Co. Ltd was incorporated on 31st May 1905. In 1910 they traded from Louise Road, Northampton, but by 1924 they had moved to Kingsthorpe Road.
They manufactured engines, motorcycles and tri-cars. Their range included single cylinder motorcycles of 3 & 3.5hp and also a 6hp V-twin. Advance also made 6hp air-cooled V-twin and 9hp water-cooled V-twin tri-cars.
The engine used in the Oakington Monoplane was an air cooled 50 degree V-four.
Advance shared both their sites in Northampton with a company called 'Standard Valves Ltd' They were incorporated in 1916 and dissolved in 1977.
The Advance Motor Manufacturing Co. Ltd is still in existence albeit in a dormant form. It is now called Partco Autoparts Ltd, and is owned by the Unipart Group. Unipart have no details of the early history, but did tell me that the company shared a building in Balsall Common with Alvis in the 1960's.
If anyone has any further information on Advance or Standard Valves, I would be very pleased to hear from you
More information on Advance