Texas State Photographer Wyman Meinzer helps Ford and King Ranch Celebrate Successful 15-year Partnership

• Ford unveils three new King Ranch® Duty and Expedition
• Authentic, 15-year relationship built on common practices, core values and work philosophies shared between Ford Motor Company and the King Ranch
• Wyman Meinzer, official Texas state photographer, captures the essence of the relationship in photos revealed at Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

HOUSTON – March 5, 2014 – The introduction of the new Ford F-150, F-Series Super Duty and Expedition King Ranch® spans 15 years. To mark the 15th anniversary of the relationship, a special photo shoot at the King Ranch was undertaken by Texas State Photographer Wyman Meinzer.

The trio of King Ranch vehicles, together for the first time, and Meinzer's unique collection of photos are making their debut at a special exhibit during the 2014 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which runs from March 4-23.

"King Ranch is a legacy. It's one of the best in Texas, if not America," Meinzer said. "These Ford vehicles wear the King Ranch 'Running W' brand because they are proven to be legitimate and authentic, in the heritage of both Ford and the King Ranch."

The three King Ranch edition vehicles, all 2015 models that go on sale later this year, are designed with unique interior and exterior trim, an enhanced level of standard equipment and special wheels, all to reflect the authentic character of the ranch and the premium quality of its products.

Meinzer, who was named State Photographer of Texas by George W. Bush in 1997, was raised as a cowboy on a ranch near Benjamin, Texas, and understands the life of ranching. This experience helped guide his Ford King Ranch photo shoot, making it as authentic as possible.

"King Ranch vehicles are made to kick butt, to get in the brush and dunes and mud holes," Meinzer explained. "We tried to present them in the conditions you'd actually see on a ranch."

More than 4,000 images were taken during the four-day shoot. Visitors to Ford.com will be able to view a gallery of these images that tie the story of the King Ranch to the F-150, F-Series Super Duty and Expedition that bear the ranch's famed "Running W" brand. All three are new for model year 2015.

Aileen Barraza, Ford color and materials designer, has visited the King Ranch many times to get a true sense of what it expresses. "It's a very majestic place that makes you feel at home no matter where you're from," Barraza said. "You can't help but be comfortable right away with genuine luxury that is earned through hard work."

Barraza translates that King Ranch feeling to the Ford vehicles she helps design. "The King Ranch models evoke luxury that is earned," Barraza said. "It's a reward for hard work, which is what has made the ranch so successful."

The new King Ranch exterior colors for 2015 are Caribou, Bronze Fire, Guard and Ruby Red Metallic Clearcoat. Caribou will be offered as a monotone; the other colors will have Caribou as an accent color. All King Ranch vehicles now come as either a monotone or two-tone appearance, giving customers additional appearance flexibility. Premium Mesa Brown is the new interior leather, and only available on King Ranch editions.

Ford's relationship with the King Ranch began in 1999, when Ford recognized the King Ranch represented the same philosophies it designs and engineers into its trucks: toughness, authenticity, integrity and quality.

Ford realized the best way to celebrate the partnership was to produce a King Ranch edition of the F-150, beginning with the 2001 model year. The success of that model launched the expansion of King Ranch editions to include Super Duty (model year 2003) and Expedition (model year 2005).

"King Ranch editions aren't merely trim levels," said Robert Underbrink, King Ranch chief executive officer. "They are representations of an authentic American story that parallels that of Ford Motor Company."

The King Ranch was founded in 1853 by Richard King and is located in Kingsville, Texas, approximately 40 miles southwest of Corpus Christi. The ranch's operations in Texas consist of

four divisions that total 825,000 acres (1,289 square miles), making the ranch larger than the state of Rhode Island. King Ranch has additional locations in Florida, New Mexico and South
Carolina and currently runs a fleet of more than 350 Ford vehicles.

The success of Ford's association with the King Ranch is reflected in sales, especially in Texas. Forty percent of all F-Series Super Duty King Ranch editions are sold in Texas.

Ford's F-Series numbers are staggering: 37 years as America's best-selling truck, 32 years as the country's best-selling vehicle, and 33 million F-Series trucks sold since its introduction in 1948.

So, too, was the long-anticipated announcement at the 2014 Detroit auto show that Ford will be swapping steel for aluminum in the body and bed (but not frame) of its best-seller. This switch is said to account for a weight savings of between 500 to 700 pounds per truck.

Ford sold 763,402 F-Series trucks in 2013, or, as its reps were fond of telling anyone at Cobo Hall who would listen, one truck every 41 seconds. Assuming Ford sells another 750,000 Fs, two-thirds of which are the new, lighter, aluminum F-150, and you're talking about some 500,000 tons of steel taken out of the auto industry every year from 2015 until Ford switches to another material.

That may sound like a lot, but the steel industry measures output in hundreds of millions of tons, so the loss of a couple hundred thousand per year is merely a molten drop in the bucket.

Or is it? What if, as many predict, Ford's stride toward aluminum results in a sea change for the rest of the industry? Aluminum-bodied cars are certainly not new: Honda paved the way with the NSX, the first production car with an all-aluminum body, chassis, suspension, and engine. Audi made the alloy the basis of its A8 line flagships from the outset. But those are low-volume sports and luxury cars; no other vehicle in America has a bigger boot print or bluer collar than the F-150. Switching from steel rivets to aluminum welds in this best-seller is a very big deal.

The day after the F-150 reveal, a curiously titled press release went out over the wire: "Consumers View Advanced High-Strength Steel as the Answer to Safety, Performance and Fuel Efficiency According to New Market Research Report."

The report, commissioned by the Steel Market Development Institute, a business unit of the American Iron and Steel Institute, queried more than 3000 U.S. truck and SUV owners and "revealed at a 95 percent statistical confidence level that the manufacturing of vehicles using AHSS [advanced high-strength steel] grades increases overall automaker brand equity to the consumer. Contributing factors included steel's reputation for safety, performance, and fuel efficiency."

The release went on to claim: "According to consumer feedback, when directly compared to other automotive materials, steel is more strongly associated with strength, safety, and protection of the family, an important and personal element of a consumer's driving experience. The strength of the material used in the frame and body of the vehicle holds as much significance over purchasing decisions as brand and cost."

Of course, this runs counter to what Doug Scott, Ford's head of truck marketing, told our Detroit editor Scott Burgess: "Customers don't care what kind of material we use to build the F-150," he said. "They just want a great truck."

There is a lot we don't know about the new F-150 and whether the switch to aluminum will do great things for its acceleration, braking, payload capacity, safety, and fuel economy numbers. What we do know is this: The new F-150 has to be better in every way than the truck it replaces. It should be lighter, stronger, faster, stop shorter, get better fuel economy, yet tow and haul as much -- if not more -- than its predecessor. In fact, the new aluminum F-150 must be all these things, yet remain as close as possible to the price of a steel F-150. Why? Because while truck buyers might not care about what metal is in the F-150, they're certainly not going to shell out more silver for less.