Unocal Sells Its Network of Truck Stops : Energy: It’s the Los Angeles-based company’s latest effort to focus more on the West Coast.

Unocal Corp. has sold its national auto and truck stop system to a group of investors and independent dealers for $180 million.

The sale consists of 97 service-station complexes owned by Union Oil Co. of California, a Unocal subsidiary, as well as the right to use the Unocal 76 logo on 43 other truck stop sites near U.S. freeways.

The 140-station system--the largest in the nation that combines overnight parking, refueling stations, restaurants and convenience stores--was sold to a new company, National Auto/Truckstops Inc., formed by some of the existing independent operators plus the investors. The investors are led by New York-based Clipper Group.

Most of the truck stop network is in the East and Midwest, with only six sites in California.

The new company will focus exclusively on the truck stops. It plans several improvements, including beefed-up security for truckers.

Before the latest sale, Unocal had already sold $258 million worth of assets in 1992. Like most other big U.S. energy companies, it has been restructuring during difficult times for the oil industry.

This was Unocal’s last large East Coast asset in refining and marketing. The company closed its Beaumont, Tex., refinery in 1990, leaving it with three refineries, all in California.

“Our marketing strategy is to focus here on the West Coast,” Unocal spokesman James H. Bray said. “We are just no longer a national marketer.”

The system is considered particularly valuable because Unocal launched it earlier than most competitors. It was able to obtain 20- to 30-acre sites that are now much more difficult to purchase.

“I think we’re buying the best truck stop franchise in the country,” Clipper Group partner Louis J. Mischianti said.