The former Giant GMC dealership in Federalsburg, which closed in February due to financial problems at the Bob Smith Automotive Group, has been sold and is continuing to operate as M&L Truck Service. The sale allowed the 12 parts and service employees to keep their jobs, and also returns the business to the family who operated it for more than 50 years before it was sold to Bob Smith Automotive. Bob Smith owner Lee Denny said the sale was the best option for the company’s employees and allowed him to pay off Giant GMC’s trade creditors. He also said progress is being made on the sale of the GM Giant in Easton, which he believes will eventually reopen as a GM dealership.

M&L Truck Service is owned by Caroline County businessmen Keith McMahan and David Nagel, who formed a partnership on March 31 to buy the parts and service business of Giant GMC, which remained open after the dealership’s sales department closed. McMahan, chairman of Tri Gas & Oil in Federalsburg, and Nagel, owner of Nagel Farm Service in Harmony, said they wanted to keep the shop open for the benefit of the community as well as to ensure their own truck fleets could get service there. The business was owned by the McMahan family and known as M&L GMC for more than 50 years before the Bob Smith Automotive Group bought it in 2004. Many of the employees in the service department have been there for more than 20 years and have established a good reputation, said McMahan.