Dan's Virtual Car Garage

Dan

Dan

Well-known member
As many of you know, I love cars. I'd love to have a Jeff Bezos or heck, even Jay Leno budget to build crazy stuff, but, well, I'm lucky enough to have a fleet of 5 real cars to keep going but that's never enough. Here is my virtual garage with crazy inventions me and Chatgpt (who I call Chet) have come up with. Chet and I like to geek out on some car guy stuff and then whip up some renderings, its really fun and lets me get creative in the few minutes of downtime I have.

Here is a concept called Jolene. A 1995 Impala SS with a little flavor. We went two ways. One pretty radical:

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The second is one with a little more restraint which I like even more.

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Final Form:​


  • 🍷 Burgundy wine
  • 🛞 Factory wheels, widened and menacing
  • 💨 Air ride stance with "don’t mess with me" tuck
  • ⚙️ LS3 + T56 + Roots blower soundtrack
  • 🔇 Whisper quiet… until the switch is flipped
  • 🎤 Full sleeper, full attitude, no apologies
 
Just plain excellent and scary renderings of concept vehicles. Excellent because it looks so real like it's an actual photo of an existing build, but scary because it's "Chet" Artificial Intelligence generated. Not knowing your technical background or how much vehicle design experience or ability you have, what you have shown is pretty amazing.
The Internet is full of concept vehicles renderings of older vehicles with new designs or hybrid-blends of designs or forms of two different vehicles, similar to your Tesla ACE that looks like a Porsche 911 with a Tesla logo/insignia on it.
It would be interesting to me to know what software you used to do this.
I ask because full-off engineering CADD software is quite expensive for the home do-it-yourselfer.
 
Hey Lonnie, thanks for checking them out, and yeah, the Model 2 looks a lot like a 911, that's what I wanted. The 3 and S borrow a lot of porsche elements and I wanted those to carry forward. I tried a few variations without round lights and they really didn't work.

As far as the software and skills required, that's the best part, NOTHING. You just chat like you would with a car guy friend. First we talk about what I'm interested in, he asks questions and then when we have the final idea in words, you tell him to draw it up. Based on that drawing you can comment and it changes the picture. The talking is quick, the drawings take a few minutes to render.

Here is another concept, I love the look of the Ford C series, a serious work truck that had a really long production run. The body lines were clean and the two tone paint jobs were to die for, just a much simpler time and a much cleaner looking vehicle. Of course for all the toys I'd need some sort of hauler, right?

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I was bored this afternoon had to do a little paint correction, also polished up the wheels a little. Almost forgot tire shine.


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Dan said:
My Telsa Model 2 ACE - Sport coupe meant to disrupt the space owned by the GTIs, Subarus, etc.


View attachment 44779

The idea is small performance coupe that has track day potential, good looks and great range. All at a great price.
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Really like this one. I'm really surprised an automaker hasn't produced something like this already. Tesla had the Roadster for a little while, but their sportscar is still vaporware. This leaves the market ripe for someone like Hyundai or Honda to step in and capture the market on the affordable end of the spectrum.
 
Desertnate said:
Really like this one. I'm really surprised an automaker hasn't produced something like this already. Tesla had the Roadster for a little while, but their sportscar is still vaporware. This leaves the market ripe for someone like Hyundai or Honda to step in and capture the market on the affordable end of the spectrum.
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There is indeed a big gap in the market, as cool as the electric hyper cars are, we need the equivalent of an 80's GTI or CRX. Quick but not obscene, handles well, and AFFORDABLE!
 
Dan said:
There is indeed a big gap in the market, as cool as the electric hyper cars are, we need the equivalent of an 80's GTI or CRX. Quick but not obscene, handles well, and AFFORDABLE!
Click to expand...
I agree 110%. An electric version of a GTI or BRZ/GR86 would be amazing, but see three problems with reaching that goal on an electrified platform.

1. Today the technology to make a quality EV in any format is still expensive. It's getting cheaper and some like GM and a few Chinese-only products seem to gaining ground on getting costs down, but none of them are what I'd call sporty. That's going to cost more. I'm sure it will get there, but we're still really in early phases of EV development.

2. I'm not sure there is a market for an affordable EV sports car when there are ICE cars like the Toyobaru Twins, Miata, or even the Elantra N and GR Carolla are still readily available. It will be interesting to see how the new hybrid Prelude will sell and when/if we'll see other hybrid performance cars come to market.

3. Performance cars in general are a rapidly shrinking market, even with ICE powerplants. With those market conditions I don't if anyone will dump significant R&D money into developing a car that will sell in really small (relative) numbers. People to seem to be much happier driving a Hummer EV than an electric Miata.
 
Desertnate, you are hitting on the issue, cars are dead. First it was the manual transmission, now its just the car. Everyone wants an SUV.
 
So the new electric Ferrari Luce is a bust. Looks like a Nissan to many.

I present the Ferrari Fulgore (Lightning):
 

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Dan:
The "revised and detailed" Ford C-Series hauler looks outstanding!! The two-tone paint looks spot-on correct for that era of design. Many a company from the late 1950's, early 60's who used such a hauler were painted with company colors in that scheme.

On the Ferrari Luce failure, maybe it's because Ferrari is so rooted in F1 with its internal combustion engines that engineering electric engine vehicles is out of character for such a company. Or the majority of vehicle owners and drivers resent government -mandates for EV that may (will) become the only choice for such a vehicle in the near future, even in the ultra exotic car market. Or so we thought until the Iranian "conflict" has had us re-evaluating that sentiment.
As far as the sedan car versus the Sport Utility Vehicle customer preference, vehicle manufacturers kowtow to what ever makes money and if the vast majority of vehicle owners and buyers prefer SUVs, that what they will engineer, manufacture, and sell. Come to Wisconsin and see what kind of vehicles are driving on the road: 85% are trucks and SUVs. And for good reason! In the summer they are pulling boats, campers, or trailers with off-road ATVs and side-by-sides (or stuff for the up-north cabin) and in the winter they are driving on snow-covered roads like it is summer with the misconception of relying on AWD/4WD "safety" in such weather.

Going back to the EV discussion, as someone told me, "95% of EVs are still on the road. The rest really made it home on a single charge." Unless you live in an urban area, EVs still do not have the driving range for rural areas or in cold weather like we have for five months out of the year in Wisconsin. Factor in the fact on how much electrical energy is needed if 25% of all vehicles are EVs and the effect that would have on the current (no pun intended!) electrical grid infrastructure, you can begin to see and understand the general public's distain for EVs. Or at least the Baby Boomers who grew up with internal combustion engine vehicles.

One request for a vehicle rendering:
Could you do a station wagon for us?
Pick one: Ford Country Squire, Buick Estate, Olds Vista Cruiser, or even a modern Caddy V-Spec CTS Wagon.
I was going ask for a cross between a wagon and a SUV, but Ford did that with the Flex! Great design with family practicality and function. More like an affordable and stretched Volvo V90.
 
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Lonnie said:
Dan:
The "revised and detailed" Ford C-Series hauler looks outstanding!! The two-tone paint looks spot-on correct for that era of design. Many a company from the late 1950's, early 60's who used such a hauler were painted with company colors in that scheme.

On the Ferrari Luce failure, maybe it's because Ferrari is so rooted in F1 with its internal combustion engines that engineering electric engine vehicles is out of character for such a company. Or the majority of vehicle owners and drivers resent government -mandates for EV that may (will) become the only choice for such a vehicle in the near future, even in the ultra exotic car market. Or so we thought until the Iranian "conflict" has had us re-evaluating that sentiment.
As far as the sedan car versus the Sport Utility Vehicle customer preference, vehicle manufacturers kowtow to what ever makes money and if the vast majority of vehicle owners and buyers prefer SUVs, that what they will engineer, manufacture, and sell. Come to Wisconsin and see what kind of vehicles are driving on the road: 85% are trucks and SUVs. And for good reason! In the summer they are pulling boats, campers, or trailers with off-road ATVs and side-by-sides (or stuff for the up-north cabin) and in the winter they are driving on snow-covered roads like it is summer with the misconception of relying on AWD/4WD "safety" in such weather.

Going back to the EV discussion, as someone told me, "95% of EVs are still on the road. The rest really made it home on a single charge." Unless you live in an urban area, EVs still do not have the driving range for rural areas or in cold weather like we have for five months out of the year in Wisconsin. Factor in the fact on how much electrical energy is needed if 25% of all vehicles are EVs and the effect that would have on the current (no pun intended!) electrical grid infrastructure, you can begin to see and understand the general public's distain for EVs. Or at least the Baby Boomers who grew up with internal combustion engine vehicles.

One request for a vehicle rendering:
Could you do a station wagon for us?
Pick one: Ford Country Squire, Buick Estate, Olds Vista Cruiser, or even a modern Caddy V-Spec CTS Wagon.
I was going ask for a cross between a wagon and a SUV, but Ford did that with the Flex! Great design with family practicality and function. More like an affordable and stretched Volvo V90.
Click to expand...
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Dan:
The Mercury Shelby-Marauder looks like hearse!
The Lincoln SVT looks genuinely real and BMW-ish/Lexus-like. Love the deep jade green hue.
The Magnum/Cuda looks "interesting". The BF Goodrich TAs and the OEM painted steel rims and base-model hubcaps look period correct, like you would have found on a police car. (The tires would have been mounted backwards as black walls on a police car, though!) The background looks like something from The Dukes of Hazzard show set.
Thank you for taking the time to create these concept wagon images. The workshop background make it look realistic and plausible
 
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I agree the Maurader does look like a hearse now that you point it out. And glad you caught my Dukes of Hazzard Easter egg!
 
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