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News
Walter Clark's Son Expands -- 1974
The Charleston Gazette
1974
By: Edward Peeks
Posted: 2/5/2008
The sale of surplus Army trucks and parts had doubled this year at Clark Truck Parts Inc. which is rounding out an expansion and beautification program at 1915 Washington St. W.
"I wish my father could see the changes we've made here," Jack Clark, president of the firm, said Tuesday, referring to his late father Walter Clark.
POINTING OUT space for 100 trucks like the one he is standing on in the new parking lot of Clark Truck Parts, 1915 Washington St. W, is Jack Clark president of the company that sells army surplus vehicles. (Gazette photo by Lewis Raines)
Walter Clark frequently battled the city of Charleston over his rights to maintain what some officials and citizens regarded as an unsightly junkyard. He died in 1970 and the property was inherited by sons, Jack and Harold Clark, who operate separate businesses on Washington Street W.
Jack Clark is now completing a parking lot with places for more than 100 trucks. The lot is fenced in and flanked by a retaining wall and new sidewalks along Washington Street near Orchard Manor.
This addition represents an investment of more than $100,000, Clark said. "The children at Orchard Manor have sidewalks to use along here to protect them from motor traffic in the street," he noted.
THE COMPANY completed another cleanup and expansion project last year in the rear of the general office and warehouse building at a cost of $30,000, he said. Plans call for razing and old office building and graveling the area on the west side of Washington Street.
"We've sold 57 trucks this year, not counting trailers, thus doubling our business," Clark observed. "We now have orders for about 500 hubs which sell for about $25,000 and 300 axles for about $11,500."
Truck Parts buys Army surplus from all over the country. "Right now most of our trucks are coming from the West Coast," Clark said. "Surplus from Vietnam is shipped to the coast. We have to buy it when the Army is ready to sell."
Trucks ranging in size from 3/4 to 10 tons are hauled in and remodeled for sale, he remarked. If one can't be fixed and sold at a profit, it is dismantled for its usable parts.
"When we buy a vehicle, we get no guarantee on it," Clark said. "But we give our customers a 30-day guarantee so if they find anything wrong in that time we take care of it free of charge."
The company has about 40 trucks on hand now and 10 more on order, he pointed out. Spare parts are housed in the basement of the warehouse, rather than scattered outdoors.
A tractor driver and a mechanic will be added to the 10-man work force under manager Russell "Jabo" Boggs.
Truck Parts has inventory totaling about $250,000, Clark said
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