SEASIDE — Drivers along U.S. Highway 101 may do a double take when they pass the sign in front of Trucke’s 1-Stop: “Thank you, Seaside, for 41 years of great memories.”

The iconic gas station and convenience store is changing owners after four decades with the Trucke family. At the end of November, Lorri Trucke said she will sell the property to Imran Ali of Allied Petroleum LLC and owner of the neighboring Gorilla Gas.

She is confident the new owner will make “a positive, ongoing contribution to Seaside.”

Ali plans to keep the Trucke’s name and keep employees. Upgrades may come in building renovations.

Truce looked back at her time in the business, when her first husband, Dick, told her of his interest in the property on S. Roosevelt Drive.

“Why would you want that ugly place?” she said at the time.

It was a garage and muffler shop with the awkward name “AFUL BRO’s,” with three 12-foot garage doors, two in front and one on the side, leased out to local mechanics.

Despite her reservations, they leased the property in 1981.

A year later, while pregnant and working at the Tolovana Inn, she got hands-on experience at the pumps when her husband slipped and fell during an ice storm.

“I said, ‘Oh, I can pump gas, no problem!’ That’s how I was introduced to it,” she said.

Their son, Rich, “pretty much grew up here on the property,” she said. “All three of us were a team here.”

The family rented the station for three years before purchasing it, instilling their motto of “fast, friendly service.”

“You need to have fun while you’re working,” Trucke said.

They then turned the main building into a convenience store. The caboose on the northeast corner of the property was repurposed from an abandoned fruit-and-vegetable trailer. Over the years, visitors could buy alpaca rugs, Latin American souvenirs and homegrown Oregon products.

Trucke’s 1-Stop quickly developed into the go-to place for tourists and locals alike. For instance, the Seaside Chamber of Commerce sent visiting fishermen, crabbers and clammers to the store for rods, buckets and shovels. Sand shrimp, razor clams and herring are sold as bait.

During the Great Coastal Gale of 2007, the region lost power. Trucke’s didn’t have a generator at the time, but the family made coffee at home and brought it to customers.

Employees tend to be loyal, some staying for decades. Spencer Reyneke has been with Trucke’s for 18 years and his brother, Tiernan, for 12. Kelvin Knudson worked there for 20 years.

For others, it is a stepping stone, Trucke said, with young people from high school learning how to balance paperwork, use a computer and interact with people.

There are no special skills required. “If you can make change and if you like people, we can teach you,” she said.

She said each employee has brought “something special” to Trucke’s, with birthday and holiday parties, picnics at Cartwright Park, bowling and go-karts. “Our employees are our family,” she said.

Trucke, who has family in San Diego, California, plans to remain in the Seaside area with her husband, Robert Whitaker, and near her son, daughter-in-law, Elaine, and grandson, Franklin.

“We want to travel and enjoy life together now,” she said. “It’s time to let someone else take the reins.”

In addition to owning and operating Gearhart Liquor & Mixers, Rich Trucke plans to work with the Trucke’s 1-Stop new ownership through the transition.

He is proud of his family business and sad to let it go, Lorri Trucke said.

“This business has just been incredible for 41 years,” she said. “I loved every bit of it.”