Kylea Borges + Her 1964 Ford Ranchero

“I didn’t plan any scenic journey,” concedes Kylea Borges when I find her and her white ’64 Ford Ranchero, Mona, posted up in a parking lot in Oakland, California.

- Holly Siegel

We climb in and she starts the engine; it revs with a perfect deep, old-car grumble, and then we’re off.

Borges grew up in San Luis Obispo, and at age 18 moved to the San Francisco area, where she began working in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood’s famous vintage stores and studying fashion design. It was during these early days that Borges used her knowledge of textiles and design to transition into self-taught fine arts, meticulously crafting the intricate collages and mixed-media pieces for which she has become known (and which have won her collabs with companies like RVCA).

But lately, Borges has been expanding her artistic horizons. “I’ve been doing interior design over the past three and a half years. I just recently left my job and am working on developing my own business. I want to bring everything together and infuse it with interiors, because I do use some of my patterns as wallpaper or textiles, so it kind of translates,” she says. And in taking stock of her aesthetic vibe, from her goth-Western-tinged ensemble to the Dolly Parton cassette propped behind Mona’s retro cup holders, that all sounds just right.

I’m sure you were turned on by this car’s interior.