LIMITLESS
BLOWN ‘28 DODGE HOT ROD WITH HIDDEN TALENTS
Mention the name Tony Baya around hot rod circles and you’ll often get the same reply about how talented he was as an engineer, the type who’d strive to find the possible in the impossible. As the owner and proprietor of Limitless Engineering in West Auckland for nearly a decade, his handiwork can be seen in action on many hot rods that pound the local streets.
You’ll easily spot those parts, too, because they’ll nine times out of ten be expertly carved from billet, and, more often than not, they’ll be so cleverly engineered that you’ll have to pretend you know how it works — but you’ve really got no idea. This is no accident; Tony spent his life perfecting his craft. Hailing from Zimbabwe, he was conscripted into the Rhodesian Army as a youngster and served his time as a sergeant in the engineers’ workshop. Their main task: modifying vehicles to withstand landmines and artillery attacks.
SO CLEVERLY ENGINEERED THAT YOU’LL HAVE TO PRETEND YOU KNOW HOW IT WORKS
Hot rodding was also in Tony’s veins — he had built his first rod in his early 20s while living in Zambia. Arriving in New Zealand in ’81 with his wife and young family, in search for a better life, they settled in the hot rodding mecca of West Auckland, where Tony was able to pursue that passion, eventually turning it into a thriving business producing bespoke components with the likes of a CNC mill — something that was utilised over time on the build of his ’28 Dodge.
Remember that sentence a few lines back about nodding as if you know how it works, but you’ve really got no idea? Well, that is this car down to a T. We’ll get to the bodywork in a moment; the part we really need to talk about first is: everything underneath! There were only three jobs on this build not handled by Tony — we’re told he wanted to do everything himself, and we mean everything. From start to finish it was his hands that turned raw material into working componentry. Very few off-the-shelf parts were used; this is built the old-school way — with the help of a CNC, that is.
With a barn-find body in hand, the chassis was constructed of Tony’s own design, utilising two large RHS rails that house shortened Jag XJ6 subframes front and rear, for which he had a jig. The packaging on the car is really where this man’s engineering brilliance shines through, and it really needs to be seen on a hoist to appreciate exactly how tight things are. The idea was to keep the engine bay as clutter-free as possible, and that is achieved by mounting as many components as possible remotely under the cab. There, you’ll find coolers for the oil, the water to air intercooler, and the gearbox. The braking assembly, the fuel tank, and the mufflers take up any remaining square inch underneath.
The real room hogger is the billet-dressed blown and injected Chrysler big block. Built by Henderson Automotive, the once 440-cube block has been massaged out to 505 cube, although the real recipe to what is inside that motor lies with Tony — no one is exactly sure. What we do know is there is a billet crank and forged rotating assembly. Sitting on top of this is a billet 8-71 BDS blower sandwiched between two very trick bits of engineering. On top there is a billet reversed plenum with the twin butterfly throttles drawing cold air from a cold air box hidden below, and fed by the original cowl vent. There is even a panel filter in there. Sitting below the blower is another Tony creation: a twopiece low-rise manifold with an integrated water-to-air intercooler, fuel rails, and injector ports.
THIS IS BUILT THE OLD-SCHOOL WAY — WITH THE HELP OF A CNC, THAT IS
THE DODGE WAS A DELIBERATE CHOICE BY TONY TO STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD OF BLUE OVAL RODS
During the build, the original 6-71 used wasn’t a billet version; we’re told it was Tony’s wife Michelle who said, “You can’t very well have all that shiny billet without a shiny billet blower to match.” Who would argue with that! The genius continues as you get lower down the engine. There is the billet housing for the Davies Craig EWP150, and then there is the modified cam, which not only has provision for an ancillary drive pulley to be bolted to it but also holds the reluctor wheel for the sync trigger sensor. The crank trigger is actually on the flywheel, with both triggers held in place by custom billet mounts. We should mention that the dry sump pump, ancillary mounts, and pan — which also holds and does well to hide the individual coils — are also Tony’s own creation; we really meant it when we said this man built it all!
All this custom billet seems to overshadow other custom parts, such as the sheet-metal bellhousing for the Tremec T56 — although this, too, has an engineer’s touch. It acts as a rear engine plate of sorts, so the Tremec can be removed without the need to worry about holding the engine in place — a necessary modification given things like the intake set-up.
Now we can get to the bodywork. Uncovered in a barn, the Dodge was a deliberate choice by Tony to stand out from the crowd of blue oval rods. He handled 90 per cent of the body modifications, including chopping the roof by three inches, converting the vehicle to a two-door, and in the process losing eight inches in overall length.
TONY AT LEAST HAD THE CHANCE TO PUT SOME KMS ON THE DODGE HIMSELF
The grille remains factory, and there is a custom bonnet, which, unsurprisingly, has a very trick latch system engineered by Tony. The bonnet sides to complete the look never got finished, and the fenders and running boards were not finished until after Tony passed.
It was in the final build stages that some work was handed over to the pros. Ian Goodwin handled the upholstery, and Randall Stone was called in to paint the body in Mazda Soul Red in a makeshift booth right there in the same shop as the car was built in. Upon Tony’s passing, daughter Kelly stepped in to see it complete. calling up Randall to complete the running boards and fenders — the final pieces to the puzzle. Also a master of his craft, Randall has made the running boards look almost factory although he has widened them all round, and corrected what the factory should have with the factory swage lines — subtler, but worth the extra effort.
After pouring so much time and energy into the project, Tony at least had the chance to put some kms on the Dodge himself, attending Repco Beach Hop in 2019 — albeit with the car fenderless and with an incomplete interior. We’re sure there would also have been plenty of white-knuckle rides around the block during the ‘testing’ phase.
While we don’t have any figures to spell out about performance, it’s a blown and injected big block with the right number of pedals and a proper chassis; the maths on how it goes aren’t hard. The package was a solution to the problem of wanting to run a 10-second pass, which we’re sure would be no pie-in-the-sky dream.
Even if you never met Tony, just looking at this car should be enough for you to realise that New Zealand hot rodding has lost a great mind, someone not scared to push boundaries, think outside of the norm, and do things a little differently. With the car now in the hands of its new custodian, it’s great to see that this rolling tribute will be used as Tony dreamed, and better yet shared with us all, so that we, too, can appreciate the time and skill that went into creating this one-off. Rest easy, Tony.