Advance Motor Manufacturing Company

The Advance Motor Manufacturing Company was incorporated in Northampton in 1905 by Douglas Herbert Gainsford and Frederick Smart, with Joseph Power involved in the early engineering work. It grew from bicycle and motorcycle dealing into manufacture of proprietary engines, complete motorcycles and a small three-wheeler program. Advance engines earned a reputation for reliability and were supplied to other motorcycle makers, aircraft pioneers and even Captain Robert Scott's Antarctic motor-sledge project. The vehicle badge's road range was concentrated before 1912, when the company stopped making its own vehicles and moved toward engine reconditioning, components and the Gradua-related adjustable-pulley work used by Zenith. The best-preserved motorcycle is the 1904/05 2¾ HP machine with a 360 cc single-cylinder engine, belt drive, pedals and free-wheel hub; later Advance singles were rated 3 and 3½ HP, and a 6 HP air-cooled V-twin joined the range. Advance also exhibited a 6 HP forecar and 6 and 9 HP tricars, with both air- and water-cooled engine options. The larger water-cooled V-twin tricar is documented at 1,145 cc from a 90 x 90 mm bore and stroke and used a Chater-Lea three-speed gearbox with reverse; announced and observed variants are grouped by vehicle architecture, not multiplied by cooling system. The company's 2,290 cc Advance V4 aero engine, wartime engineering, Standard Valves affiliate and postwar Advance Motor Supplies successor are industrial history rather than automobile models. The legal company survived vehicle production and was eventually sold to Sheepbridge Engineering around 1949–53, so the history distinguishes the 1905–12 vehicle marque from the longer engineering-company life. No complete production ledger survives.

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