posted 01-10-2009 12:13 AM                  

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090109/NEWS01/901090361/1055/news

He's not a plastic surgeon. He doesn't peddle a magic elixir. And yet, Baby Boomers - especially men - look to David Snyder to help recapture their youth.

The 55-year-old artist from Clermont County's Miami Township uses a paintbrush to evoke memories of a time when muscle cars - those American icons known for their powerful V-8 engines and jack-rabbit acceleration - ruled the roads.

"When you look at his art ... you see the Dairy Queen you used to go to, or you see Route 66, or you see muscle cars sitting at some Sunoco gas station. You feel like, 'I have been there, and I just want to go back,' " says Tim Wellborn, who lives in Alexander City, Ala., and owns an extensive collection of muscle cars.

"His art is worthy of being in a museum," he adds. In fact, Wellborn will display five original Snyder paintings, along with a number of limited-edition prints, when his Wellborn Muscle Car Museum opens next fall in Alexander City.

Snyder might not be a household name locally, but fans around the nation and the world collect his work. His paintings have been reproduced in a new book, "The Automotive Art of David Snyder."

Snyder will sign the book 1-3 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Saturday and 2-4 p.m. Sunday at the Cavalcade of Customs at Duke Energy Convention Center, an event that typically draws 45,000 or more hot rod fans.

"Dave has captured Americana and a lifestyle," says Rob Meyers, who sells Snyder's prints through Motor Art Gallery in Grove City, Ohio.

"He has quite a following here in Canada," says automotive art dealer Helmut Tepper, whose Pacific Car Art, based in Abbotsford, British Columbia, stocks nearly 90 different Snyder prints.

Each one begins as a meticulously researched, hand-drawn, hand-painted original.

This day, an unfinished painting, "Auto Show 1969," rests on an easel in the second-story studio of Snyder's home.

Within arm's reach are 40-year-old paint-chip books he bought on eBay from an old body shop. The paint chips allow him to reproduce exactly the sunfire yellow on a '69 Plymouth Barracuda, the dark green poly on a '69 Dodge Charger and the Chrysler B5 blue on a '69 Plymouth Roadrunner.

Snyder, you see, sweats the small stuff.

"I'm not going to fake it," he says. "I don't want any letters (from nitpickers) saying, 'That paint wasn't available on that car.' "

The settings for his paintings include drive-ins, diners, car dealerships and auto shows. If the setting is a gas station, even the oil cans are historically accurate.

But cars are the stars.

"The most notable quality of Dave's works is the incredible accuracy of the details of the cars themselves," says Mike Guarise, a Barrington Hills, Ill., collector of muscle cars from the '60s and early '70s. The building where Guarise's cars are kept has five of Snyder's original paintings on display, along with about 20 of his limited-edition prints.

"Dave is, in my view, the most talented artist creating original art that reflects the high point of the muscle car era in America," Guarise says.

Many experts say the golden age of muscle cars began in 1964 - the year the Pontiac Tempest GTO and Ford Mustang were introduced - and lasted until 1970, when the redesigned Chevy Camaro and Pontiac Firebird were competing for attention with the Dodge Challenger, Plymouth Barracuda and others.

It's an era Snyder, who grew up in Hyde Park, recalls fondly.

Before he could drive, he was pedaling his bicycle past the car dealerships on Montgomery Road in Norwood, ogling the new models.

After graduating from Withrow High, he honed his art skills at Cincinnati's Central Academy of Commercial Art. He worked briefly in The Enquirer's art department, then spent 22 years as a commercial artist at ad agencies and design studios in Louisville, followed by a stint as a freelance commercial illustrator.

He also made time for other projects. His painting "Union Terminal" depicts trains on the back side of the train station on its first day of operation in 1933. It was photographed and enlarged and used as a backdrop at the 1990 grand opening of Cincinnati Museum Center. In 1992, he was selected to create the official image of Kentucky's bicentennial.

In the mid-'90s, a Canadian publisher asked him to paint some automotive subjects. That had become the focus of his business by 2000, when he and his wife of 33 years, Marion, moved back to Cincinnati. She's his business partner, and handles office duties.

Snyder labors between 250 and 450 hours on his paintings. They sell for $6,000 to $15,000. But limited-edition reproductions are his bread and butter. They're typically priced below $100, he says, because "I would rather see my work sold and hanging on a wall than sitting in a drawer."

So would the baby boomers who once owned a muscle car, or dreamed of owning one. Their emotional connection to the cars remains strong. And Snyder's art, Meyers, says, "makes good memories come alive."