I feel like I’ve been talking a lot lately about the madness of AI, especially its use for generating car images which are, charitably, garbage. They’re garbage because one thing AI images can’t do is be truly accurate, because they have no idea what the hell they’re making, because they’re not actually aware of anything. Sometimes, though, that lack of accuracy and awareness can actually wrap around from annoying to fun, depending on, you know, how much you give a shit. And, I think this case may be the perfect one to just enjoy, because it’s all in this odd car parts website, which seems to be exclusively illustrated with AI-generated purple cars.
The site is called Metro Moulded Parts, and it seems to be a site that sells molded – or, I suppose, moulded, though for whatever reason the addition of that “u” makes everything seem sort of gross – parts, like rubber shift boots and pedal pads and weatherstripping and rubber bump stops – that sort of thing.
They seem to have parts for a genuinely staggering array of brands, too:
Look at that! 91 marques, and they include stuff like Hupmobile and Jordan and Riley. These are deep cuts, but I guess everyone needs some molded plastic and rubber bits, right? It would be a massive undertaking to source images for cars of all these brands and models, which is why I suspect that the people who run Metro Moulded Parts did what they did, which seems to be letting some AI algorithm do pretty much everything.
For the images for all these categories, they have a design theme they want to stick to, which I respect. Theirs is all purple cars, in a style that’s sort of like a vectorized photo-type illustration. Some of the results they get seem pretty good, like this AMX:
That seems pretty close to a real AMX, not exact, but fairly close. Then you notice the disclaimer under the image: “These illustrations use artistic license and may differ from actual historical models.” That’s partially true, though I think what’s being used is AI image-generating code over artistic license, but perhaps that’s splitting hairs.
Most of the time, though, the cars don’t seem to be very accurate, though I can’t deny they aren’t fun. Look at this “Fiat Strada” for example:
That’s not what a Strada looked like. It’s maybe a little like a Lancia Scorpion, or something? I’m not sure, but I kind of like it.
I also love this “Renault Caravelle”:
It’s not even the same category of car as the Caravelle, which was a little rear-engined roadster, and this looks like some sort of French Multipla/small people mover.
And look at this interpretation of a Volvo Amazon!
It’s sort of half-Amazon, half-P1800, and I’ll be honest, I don’t hate it. At all. I’m not sure what the deal is with that almost-wing back there, though?
This is kind of addicting! I can’t stop looking at these strange, alternate-reality cars. Like this one, that answers the question about what if Datsun made a car that was a transition between the old Datsun 2000 roadster and the Z-cars:
Again, not remotely accurate to anything in our reality, but… it’s cool! I’m so conflicted. It also only appears to have one front turn indicator. See if you can guess what this one is supposed to be:
A Studebaker Avanti! It’s nothing like an Avanti, of course, but it’s oddly cool, in a sort of Iso Grifo kind of way. Maybe with a little ’70s Mustang at the rear? And, what’s going on with those wipers?
That antenna has halfway decided to become an extra wiper. Make up your mind, antenna!
Sometimes it ends up with images have definitely never been looked upon by human eyes, because, well, just look:
That’s supposed to be a Willys Jeepster, and yeah, it looks basically like a Jeepster, except I’m pretty sure Jeepster tops closed in such a way that made sense to human beings, and wasn’t some Escher-like insanity, as pictured here.
Again, this is why AI without any humans involved is madness.
As a Volkswagen obsessive, I had to check out what sort of excitement was happening in that category, and boy was I not disappointed. For cars like the Beetle, those are generally quite close, which makes sense, as there are a massive amount of Beetle reference images out there.
But ask it for, say, something a bit less common, like a VW Thing:
It’s almost a Thing, but the corrugations are all wrong, those bumpers look like they’re from a Rabbit, and what is going on out back? Is that wood? Is it like a truck bed? Again, I don’t hate the pickup variant of the Thing.
And check out this Scirocco:
I mean, that looks pretty hot, and there is definitely some Scirocco in there, especially around the B-pillar, but it’s no Scirocco.
Look what it thinks a VW Type 4 is like:
That’s like halfway between an air-cooled and a liquid-cooled VW! Or like a VW version of a Fiat 126? But it gets better! Way, way better. Look at what it calls a “VW Type 2”:
Oh hell yeah, this is prime AI hallucinatory madness! This one has four-and-a-half wheels, a split windshield, and the rare-but-coveted telephone-booth-style passenger door.
What is this? And, yes, part of me is disgusted that a site seems to be all AI-generated garbage, but at the same time I’m luridly fascinated! Some of these machine-hallucinated cars are actually kind of fantastic. But they’re useless, too. I’m very conflicted.
I suggest you waste lots and lots of your Friday looking at all these bonkers cars, and posting your favorites right here in the comments, because it’s the right thing to do, dammit.
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