Melody Motors becomes Ripley Ford under management of new owner Mark Ripley. (Submitted photo/Ripley Ford)

By paNOW Staff

New owners

The Car Guys find a new home at Ripley Ford in Melfort

Oct 10, 2024 | 2:48 PM

‘Home of the Car Guys’ became synonymous with the Chevrolet, Buick and GMC dealership in Prince Albert when Mark Ripley arrived in the city five years ago.

Now, the entrepreneur is taking his 27 years of experience in the car business, and his slogan, to Melfort where he recently purchased Melody Motors.

“As the dealer principal and managing partner with Auto Canada, I had great success at Mann Northway and built a great family there and within the organization and was able to sell lots of cars and service a lot of great customers and give back to the community which was rewarding and helped put us on the map…having said that, we had an opportunity to go on our own and purchase Melody Motors from the Madraga’s.”

The Madraga family recently celebrated 60 years of business in Melfort and Ripley said he shares a lot of the same interests as the family that has been heavily involved in the community over that time.

“I felt they had a lot of the same standards as we do with morals and integrity and how they ran business, so that was really attractive for us,” Ripley said.

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When news of the sale was first released last month, Ken Madraga, who was general manager at the time, told northeastNOW there was a lot of interest in the dealership, but Ripley and his team stood above the rest.

“Mark has made himself quite a reputation in Prince Albert along with Malcolm Jenkins,” said Madraga. “Mark himself, through the dealership, has donated well over $5 million to Prince Albert and area, so when we found all this information out, we were extremely interested to have further discussions with him because that’s exactly what we believe in as well is supporting the communities, the surrounding areas.”

Helping to endorse Ripley’s new endeavour will be well-known Prince Albert philanthropist and former Canadian Tire owner Malcolm Jenkins. While Ripley is the sole owner of the dealership, Jenkins is an investing partner in the property.

“So, he’s been a big, big mentor for me since I moved to Prince Albert, and we’ve been able to grow a really good friendship over the years and we’re really excited. You’ll see him in the front part of the business endorsing it. It’s Malcolm. We really want him around the community, and he’s excited to be down here,” Ripley said.

For now, Ripley and his wife Tori will continue to call Prince Albert home while commuting to Melfort. He doesn’t plan on making many changes as the new owner other than changing the name from Melody Motors to Ripley Ford, and potentially adding more staff. Otherwise, he said it will still be ‘the same great staff and the same great service.’

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panews@pattisonmedia.com