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ack when I was a struggling col-
lege student (around 1982), I
had an opportunity to buy a 1966
Shelby GT350 (SFM6S1342) that had
been drag-raced by a guy named
Frank Likert. He worked with my
uncle in Norfolk, Virginia at the Naval
Air Rework Facility. It was actually a
three-way deal where I got the Shelby,
Frank got my uncle’s recently built
(and raced very little) 1974 Camaro
limited sportsman stock car, and my
uncle got my money.
The Shelby was a tired, but decent
car. It had actually been featured in
The Shelby American
, Vol 5, #5, “Turn
Left at Langley.” Before I got it, Frank
had reinstalled the original 289 Hi-Po
motor, with the same close ratio top-
loader 4-speed he had used when he
drag raced, and later autocrossed, the
car.
When I got 6S1342, it also came
with nearly all of the original parts
that had been taken off while it was
being raced, including all five 10-spoke
wheels (including one with the origi-
nal spare tire), the Cobra tach, the 715
cfm Holley carb, the radiator and
shroud, among other things. However,
one thing that was not included was
the original aluminum T-10 4-speed
transmission, and I eventually asked
Frank about that.
He told me that when he started
drag racing the car seriously, around
1971 or so, he used to flat-tow it on a
tow bar (remnants of the tow tabs are
on the front frame rails to this day)
with an old Buick that was his daily
transportation. One Saturday after-
noon, he was driving out to Suffolk
Raceway with the GT350 in tow, for
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Fall 2016 67
– Dave Redman
B