The Stovebolt Site Forums The Back Office News and Announcements Mar-K no longer in business as of 21 Mar 2025

If you've been in this hobby for awhile, you've either heard of, or done business with, Mar-K -- a manufacturer of high quality reproduction sheet metal parts for our trucks. We have been informed by the company's founder and former owner (until 2016) that the company closed the doors and ceased operation as of March 21, 2025.

Mark and his wife, Kay (sad to say, now deceased), had long been a part of this site and were early corporate sponsors. Mark, along with Pete Kinney (American Classic) and Jim Carter, were instrumental in helping us get established and growing. I'm glad he ("59 fleet") is still in the hobby and a part of the Stovebolt family. He and Kay sold the business in 2016.

I'll leave it to him to decide if this needs any further elaboration or to share any guidance he may have for those with outstanding orders.

In the meantime, should you have any outstanding orders with Mar-K, try calling their numbers: 844-MAR-K844 Local 405-721-7945

Be advised, though ... I just tried calling the toll free number and it went straight to voicemail. I will pursue other access to see if I can get some guidance for anyone with paid orders.

*Are* there many Stovebolters currently waiting on paid orders? Contact me via pm if you are. I'd like to get a feel for how many of our users are in this situation.

Thanks,
John

darn! That sucks.

Looked at their web site and it looks like you can still order.

Well that sure is sad info! I really hope not too many folks are going to be left hanging with paid orders and it's disappointing that what Mark and his wife built has gone by the wayside.

This is indeed sad information.

One would be ill advised to order any parts at this time regardless of what the website says.


If I find out any more information I will post here. I know all employees are terminated and the office is closed. Owner has moved to another state.

Mark

That is indeed bad news. The body parts I’ve ordered from them have always been spot on. Plus they were made in the USA!

Hope someone here can replace them. It would be a shame to see this also move overseas………..course with the imposing tariffs……🙄

Be advised -- I've been told by someone who has knowledge of the situation that the business is closed and the employees let go. The web site may be up still because no one is left to update it. It will go down as soon as the hosting bill comes due.

googled

That hosting bill may have come due. I just tried to go to the web site https://mar-k.com/ and it comes up with "Cannot connect to the server at mar-k.com." Maybe they pulled the plug on the server.

klhansen- Yeah, thats it.

This is a big loss for the hobby. They were great to work with. High quality wood kits is all I ever bought from them. Never tried the sheet metal.

There is a lot of valuable information there with all of the tooling and specs needed to make so many different style of bed wood kits ect. I’m surprised they didn’t try to sell off or have an investor come in and take it over.

The last bed wood kit I got from them for my 59 Napco was perfect. Even down to the packaging for shipping. That was two years ago.

Sad news indeed. They were the best. A tour of their operations with a local club about 6 years ago was a much appreciated and memorable experience.

That was a fine Stovebolt day. Tour of Mar-K by Mark was very informative. Sad that the new owner couldn’t keep the business alive.

I ran across this on Facebook site "The Truck Gathering".

1.1 million in back orders and 2.5 in debt owed to bank

Yikes! Mark talked like the bank may be selling the equipment / assets. Hope the bank will give a heads up. There may be somethings that Bolters could be interested.

That's really too bad about all this.

Apparently the guy in charge after Mark and Kay just took over as CEO of the National Corvette Museum. People are not happy, so he might not be with the NCM much longer, who knows. Article I saw yesterday.

Scooter, thanks for the link. That seems to cover a good bit of it. Lots of unhappy folks.

Interesting. Did Mar-K make parts for anything other than AD trucks? Hopefully, making things right with wronged customers will be Hill’s first step to fixing whatever his problems are.

I bought a set of chromed skid rails for my '57 GMC from Mar-K probably 26 years ago, so not only AD.

They sold bed parts for Ferd and Dodge (I believe) as well.

Eric, not happy with the guy:

"National Corvette Museum has announced that David Hill has submitted his resignation as President and CEO of the organization effective immediately on Wednesday."

Restating THE LINK you posted.

I bought a set of bed strips for a 47 dodge truck.

Wow, just read this along with the stories and can only wonder what went wrong. Not knowing the details makes it difficult to judge but one would think the owner knew what was coming and could have strived for a soft landing for their customers. I purchased my bed front panel, tailgate, wood kit, angle strips, bed strips, and ss bolt kits from them and everything worked perfectly.

Mar-K made an extensive variety of auto parts for classic vehicles, including trim pieces for early C-1 and C-2 Corvettes, interior stainless door moldings for 55-57 Chevy cars, stainless body moldings for early (32-56) ford cars, as well as exterior moldings for many GM trucks up to 79 models. There were many GM and Ford licensed products. Lots of these products were made exclusively for various dealers across the country therefore not available at retail from Mar=K.

Mark

I am really sad to hear about this as well.

I purchased a complete bed kit for my '50 3600 from them that included the cross sills, wood, etc. and was very happy with the whole process and parts received. I have had it together enough, although not final assembly to know that everything should be there and fit together correctly.

I used them to rebuild our bed, they used my restored bed pic in a Christmas ad, nice honor.

Jake, I bet that was. Not only did your bed look nice, the whole truck looks great!

Was great to see you post in here again.

Hello John,
I am a new member and an I read your notice that Mar-K has closed their doors, and that you are searching for members who have placed orders with Mar-K. I placed an order with them on March 6, 2025 (for a tailgate for my 1948 3604) and $439.30 was drawn from my account by Mar-K. My question is as I had placed this order before the date they closed will they honor previous orders? Is it still on the way?
Thanks for the notice and your concern for the members,
Flint48

Flint48, Unfortunately, I don't believe that any outstanding orders will be filled, as the company has been completely closed down by the bank. I would contact your credit card company (assuming you used one) about reimbursement. It's possible they have a way of recovering that money if the assets of the company are liquidated. It's worth a try anyway.

Kevin,

Thanks for the rapid response. My bank is working on it now and we'll see how it goes. Mar-K produced such faithful parts at a fair price that they will be missed. This tailgate was the last body part I needed. Can you suggest a place where I can get another factory spec tailgate? It's funny how after working on this great truck for 15 years it becomes quite a responsibility.

With Stovebolt's technical help my '48 will be on the road very soon!

Jim Carter has original style tailgates as well as without lettering and other styles. Their website says the original style Link is ready to ship.

It sounds like the original management of Mar-K and the most recent owner were polar opposites as far as business ethics. Sad indeed. I had purchased and was very happy with several items from the original regime. I had much more on my "wish list" but felt that as close as they were to me, time was not an issue. I guess I waited too long. After reading the story of the new owner, it is good news that he was not able to use a new position to damage even more people in the hobby.

What a business opportunity to take advantage of, for someone to buy Mar-K holdings {without the debt} and make high quality parts at a price that might corner the market. I sure wish I was younger to do so.
The bed is being painted Forester Green right now and the cab and pending tailgate from Jim Carter will be coated post haste. The 1/4" cream pinstripe has two stripes distinctly in some areas across the front of the cab running through the windshield wiper posts, down the doors and with oxidized evidence of a lower stripe across the back of the cab. A magnifying glass makes it a little clearer. The Mar-K white pine bedwood boards are sanded and traditionally lampblacked, cross sills, heat shield and fasteners are all about to come together. I've gone throughout every nut and bolt in the truck with some 'hidden' upgrades to make running at 65-70 mph a little safer. I've been fortunate to have found quite a number of NOS parts along the way too from one fellow, Cal McCollum of Vintage Chevrolet Parts, 760-723-5134. I might get it assembled before the 4th of July in time for our parade.

Flint48, Sounds like you've got a nice project there. You're a little off-topic here with your latest posts. That and the fact that your posts don't count here in News and Announcements toward getting you out of moderation and the ability to send Private Messages if the need arises. You need a minimum of 4 posts for that and your current post count is zero.

Suggest that you post in the Welcome Centre or start a Thread in the DITY Gallery. We'd love to see pictures of your truck and more of your story.

The above quote was taken from this other bed board thread and shows Steve was able to get his money back!!! Good info to share with any other Bolter affected by Mar-K's closing IMHO. Spread the word please!