Iconic HSV Holden Maloo utes descend on Echuca to celebrate a lost era

More than 50 rare Holden Maloos worth up to $200,000 have gathered in Echuca for an annual celebration that started with just eight mates after the floods.

Maloos on the Murray 2025.

Forget the four-wheel drives and American pick-ups – Echuca at the weekend was all about celebrating an iconic Aussie ute that’s no longer made.

Forty-five limited edition HSV Holden Maloos, from $20,000 daily drivers to immaculate show cars worth $200,000, rolled into town for Maloos on the Murray - an event that’s gone from zero to hero in just four years.

Organiser Mat Trevena, Echuca, launched the ute cruise in 2022 after the major flood event, wanting to support struggling local businesses and bring car enthusiasts back together after Covid shut down cruises and clubs across the region.

What started with seven or eight mates has grown exponentially.

“It has snowballed each year,” Mat said.

“I never expected it to get this big.”

Maloos on the Murray organiser Mat Trevena, Echuca.

The weekend was all about mateship and sharing a passion for the iconic vehicles, which cruised from Victoria Park Boat Ramp at Echuca to The Timbercutter at Mathoura, NSW.

Participants also visited The Depot historic vehicle collection at Deniliquin, NSW, local silo art, pubs, cafes and coffee shops.

Every model from the original 1990 VG through to the final 2017 W1 edition turned up, with owners making the journey from Adelaide, South Australia, Sydney, NSW, and right across Victoria and southern New South Wales.

“I waited 25 years to own one – I just love them,” Mat, who has a 2015 VF, said.

“They are an iconic Aussie ute.

“You see the passion of people that own them, it’s unbelievable.

“They don’t make them anymore and the smaller utes are fading away so we’re trying to keep the culture going.”

Maloos on the Murray 2025.

Maloos on the Murray 2025 at Colbinabbin silos.