10-4 Magazine November 2021

60 10-4 Magazine / November 2021 When you are in the market for a used truck, sometimes finding exactly what you are looking for can prove time-consuming and learning the art of patience. For Mark Clark, he found the truck he was looking for, but the owner wasn’t looking to sell the truck, so Mark played the waiting game until the owner finally called and was willing to sell. Born and raised in the Alamo, GA area with no background in the trucking industry, Mark grew up on a farm in a rural part of Georgia. Bobby Brown, a good friend of Mark’s father, was a diesel mechanic and also had trucks of his own. Mark was friends with Bobby’s kids, so he spent plenty of time playing at their place. As Mark got older, he started working part time for Bobby, and that is where his interest in trucking sparked. He always liked trucks, heavy equipment and farming, so he figured he would end up doing something in the heavy equipment or trucking industry. Mark went on to say, he really never had an interest in doing anything else. At age 18, Mark obtained his CDL, which was a requirement by the utilities company he was employed with, in order to drive the line truck. His first real truck driving job happened thanks to Bobby, who gave him a chance behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer combination. Mark purchased his first truck, a cabover, in 1995 to start hauling logs. With being a forestry product, hauling logs doesn’t require you to have your authority or be leased to a company. All you need is your own equipment, a DOT number, the required insurance, and proper tags. On June 16, 2001, he married his wife Kim and, fast forward to 2008, Mark started his company, M. Clark Logging LLC. The 1989 Peterbilt 379 seen here was a local truck to Mark, which he had his eye on for a while, but when he finally approached the owner, a local farmer, to see if he could buy it, as previously The Diesel Addict: By Stephanie Haas mentioned, the owner was unwilling to sell. Eventually, the owner approached Mark to see if he was still interested. Of course, Mark jumped at the opportunity and didn’t even think to do any haggling on the price. One of the understandings between the two men was that Mark was purchasing the truck to restore it. This transaction took place in November of 2018 with the intention all along for Mark to make this truck into something really nice that was on a whole different level to take to some truck shows. THE WAITING GAME