Kim Lewis Designs keeps 1977 Ford truck on the road and on the job.
Kim Lewis made a name for herself as the lead designer of more than 120 houses on the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, giving new life to old properties. Since then, she’s started her own business in Austin, Texas, where Kim Lewis Designs creates unique commercial spaces and tiny houses for a global clientele.
A new business in a youthful city? Lewis must roll from site to site in a brand-new truck, right?
Wrong. No bright and shiny F-150 Limited for her. As revealed in Ford’s new 40 Years Tough video series (below), Lewis picks up supplies and goes to client meetings in her 1977 Ford F-150 Ranger, which she calls “Pearl.” It fits in in truck-crazy Texas and it fits Lewis’ personality.
After all, she learned how to drive in her grandfather’s 1978 F-150. Lewis said, “Pearl and I are two peas in a pod. She’s exactly what I needed to start my business, and has become part of my brand. All around Texas, people know Pearl.”
‘[My Ranger] and I are two peas in a pod. She’s exactly what I needed to start my business, and has become part of my brand. All around Texas, people know her.’
Some of those people include the Dallas Cowboys and the firefighters at the Dallas No. 43 Fire Station, which F-150 Online covered earlier. Lewis led a complete visual overhaul of the facility, from its TV room to its kitchen. The players contributed their manpower, the (Denis) Leary Firefighters Foundation pitched in equipment, and Ford donated a 2017 Super Duty. (If Lewis’ truck is Pearl, maybe the Dallas blaze battlers can call their new rig “Big Red.” We sure would.)
Lewis is known as “The Little Lady with Big Ideas.” She also has a big truck, a rolling example of what it means to be “40 Years Tough,” the focus of Ford’s new social media campaign. Here’s to Pearl keeping her unrestored luster for another 40 years.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
