A fascination with vintage automotives lands the art center's curator of exhibits a new job.
By EILEEN SCHULTE, Times Staff Writer
Published June 16, 2005
For 18 years, David Shankweiler carefully nurtured the Dunedin Fine Art Center.
He hung watercolor exhibits.
He arranged sculpture shows.
He designed quilt displays.
But all the while he nursed another passion: antique cars.
Shankweiler loves anything vintage with a water-cooled 1.3 liter engine, aerodynamic shape and unibody construction.
So when he was offered a job as director of the new Tampa Bay Automobile Museum in Pinellas Park, he resigned from his position as curator of exhibits at the center.
"It was hard to leave, but this came up and it was time to make a change," Shankweiler said.
Shankweiler has known Alain Cerf, the owner of the collection in the Pinellas Park gallery, for some time. The friendship led to the job.
Shankweiler brightens when he talks about Cerf's cars, located in a gleaming 12,000-foot art deco-style showroom at 3301 Gateway Centre Blvd.
"Right now, we have 35," he said. "It's a very intelligent collection."
It includes a Delorean (8,000 were produced in Ireland between 1981 and 1982); a Peugeot Darl'mat (103 were produced in France from 1937 to 1939); the extremely rare Ruxton (between 100 and 200 were produced in the United States from 1929 to 1930); and a Tatra T87 (3,023 were produced in Czechoslovakia between 1937 and 1948).
"It's a rear-engine car," Shankweiler said. "It looks like something Flash Gordon would be flying."
The collection also features the world's only Fardier de Cugnot replica, a steam-powered wheeled cart, the first self-propelled vehicle, which was demonstrated in France in 1770.
According to the museum Web site, the original Fardier de Cugnot has been in the collection of the Le Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, Marseilles, France, since 1801. The replica is on loan from the Deutsche Ban Museum in Nuremberg, Germany.
Cerf declined through an assistant to reveal how much the collection was worth; Shankweiler said he could not put a price on it.
The museum, which opened in March, is adjacent to Polypack, a company that manufactures automatic packaging machinery. Both are owned by Cerf.
George Ann Bissett, the Fine Art Center's executive director, said she was sad when Shankweiler gave his notice.
"But when he told me what the job was, I was excited for him," Bissett said. "I know his two greatest loves are art and automobiles."
"They are very fortunate to have David," she said. "He is highly regarded and is meticulous in what he does."
Bissett replaced Nancy McIntyre, who left the Dunedin Fine Art Center last year. McIntyre is Shankweiler's longtime friend. When asked if his resignation had anything to do with McIntyre, who was asked by the center's board of directors to resign after the center failed to bounce back from budget deficits following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Shankweiler hesitated.
"My commitment changed when she left," he said. "I felt that it was a good time to do something new."
Shankweiler was making $42,000 at the center. He would not say how much he is making at the museum, other than "it's significantly higher" than his previous salary.
Susan Rollins Gehring, the president of the board of directors, said Shankweiler's departure left "a big void for us."
She said the center is in a transition period. Shankweiler's position won't immediately be filled; instead, the center has hired a new director of communications, Ken Hannon, an artist and photographer from Flint, Mich. Hannon's salary will be $40,000.
When Shankweiler left the center, "we threw quite a party for him," said Bissett. "At least 200 people came."
