It’s bright orange paintwork - a custom colour chosen by Bruce - certainly made it stand out in a crowd of well cared for utes of all shapes and colours.
Place the miniature replica of the ute he created for his grandchildren next to it, and you had a crowd pleaser.
It worked in Bruce’s favour, with the Ute of the Year chosen by fellow Ute Muster fans this year.
The popular vote saw his Holden H7 1977 enter the record books of the famed festival, and Bruce collect the $2000 prize.
And his miniature ute also claimed the Muster Mobeel prize on the day.
Bruce hails from Corop in Victoria, and rescued his now prize-winning ute from wasting away in a farm shed.
“I bought it off a farmer. It was just sitting in the shed.
“I brought it here (to the Deni Ute Muster) soon after, and it seemed to get a lot of interest.
“I re-built it from the ground up and entered the Show ‘n’ Shine last year, but didn’t win anything then.”
Bruce has had the ute since 2005, and placed in the top 100 with it in the very next Deni Ute Muster Show ‘n’ Shine after buying it.
Last year was the first time he’d been back to the muster since.
Bruce has restored many of the ute’s original features, adding only a few updates and customisations to suit his style.
“It’s mostly original, but I re-did the interior and added Saas racing seats.
“The colour is custom, and I added the bug catcher in the front just to change the look a little.
“When it came to the paint colour, everyone liked the orange, so it was the way to go.”
Bruce’s family were just as enamoured with his ute as he was, and so then came the conversation about building one similar just for the grandkids.
“My kids were like ‘you built that one, so now you should build a kids' ute’.
“So I did.
“I like building things, and I actually finished the mini ute only two weeks ago.”
Runner-up Ute of the Year went to Moama’s Shaun Trotter with a 1983 Holden WB.
The prize for most flags went to Sam Dewick from Quirindini, NSW. His Ford FG Flacon brandished 37 flags.
The prize for farthest travelled went to Shaun White, who brought his Holden VZ 3261km from Ballajura in Western Australia to be part of the action.
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