David Skinner’s 8cwt Humber turned out to be more of a project than he’d hoped but, as John Blackman reports, help was at hand

Admit it, when it comes to vehicles or jobs around the house or garden, most of us like to tinker to the best of our abilities and occasionally beyond; we enjoy the challenge of creating or repairing something and the satisfaction it gives us afterwards. But equally for most of us there comes a time when we face something which, because of the skill levels required or the time we have available (or both), is better handed off to a professional.

I first saw David Skinner’s 1940 8cwt Humber 4x2 way back in September 2009 when I photographed his Humber Super Snipe staff car (and very nice it was too; you can see the results in April 2010’s CMV). At the time, the vehicle was in bits, although David hoped to get it ready for the 2010 Guernsey liberation commemorations. He didn’t make that deadline… or that for the 2011 event, but by that time the realisation had dawned that despite everything that he had achieved mechanically, the project might best be passed to a professional to get it finished within a reasonable time span.