Artificial Intelligence Envisions a Classic Car Owners’ Ideal Home.

By instructing a generative image AI algorithm to speculate about the kind of homes owners of particular historic automobiles are likely to live in, the online European marketplace for classic and specialty vehicles, Car & Classic, has made a foray into the digital realm of artificial intelligence. The matches and pertinent illustrations are the result of an artificial intelligence (AI) creative art process. Given a specific brief—in this case, “imagine a property in the UK with a “insert classic car name” parked outside”—the programme searches through countless numbers of digital images readily available on the internet and selects the most likely result. The project's software, Midjourney, provides a visual interpretation of the models (and attributes) rather than an exact representation of their forms and lines.

The article "The Home AI Thinks You Live In, Based On Your Vintage Vehicle" from Car & Classic shares the top 16 outcomes. According to the AI research, owners of Porsche 911s are likely to reside in opulent London mansions, whilst Morris Minor enthusiasts may reside in quaint cottages in serene, tranquil settings. These two extremes of the spectrum represent town and country respectively.

The eternal elegance of E-Type Jaguars seems to be best represented in a smart, simple home with lines to match. Contemporary classic Italian and British legendary sportscars from the 1960s also call for distinct lifestyles. A Lamborghini Gallardo may sit proudly in front of a Georgian house.

A large family that has a strong need for practicality can live in a suburban home that is sturdy and functional and would make excellent use of a Mercedes 500. Midjourney's response to a request to position an American Dodge Coronet from the 1960s or 1970s in front of a British building was a house straight out of a 1970s catalogue.

A Morgan Plus 4 is paired with a 20th-century Tudor mansion, and an Aston Martin with a gorgeous stately home, according to AI, which claims that lovers of hand-built British models are similarly traditional. Space and a stately setting are needed for classic Bentley Continentals.

The Nissan Bluebird appears to have found its owners in little British bungalows, which is consistent with its Sunderland-built origins and major economic contribution to the British Isles. Drivers of Bedford Rascal vans may be seen nearby; they appear to reside in suburban semi-detached homes close to owners of ubiquitous Vauxhall Cavaliers, who appear to favour semi-detached bungalows in the same neighbourhood.

Explore more obscure antique cars, and AI places the original, iconic Fiat 500 in front of a Victorian terraced house, where a compact, practical city vehicle would be most at home, and the rare and odd Peel P50 next to a similarly situated, albeit smaller, building.

To identify the owner of a Willys Jeep, you would naturally have to travel outside of bustling towns that cater to the smaller classics and into remote locations. A typical detached stone house would be appreciated by the owner of a majestic Alvis TA14 somewhere in the centre, between towns and countryside, possibly in a tiny English village. After all, that particular model is indelible linked to British automotive history.

Car & Classic Head of Editorial Dale Vinten thinks that the digital reality created by AI may need more work in terms of visual accuracy when it comes to ‘imagining’ classic vehicles. "This was a fun project and we enjoyed playing with AI to explore its biases in relation to classic car owners. Some of the imagery was incredible when you consider how far AI image generation has come in such a small space of time."

Make no mistake, some of the images are incredibly close in likeness at first glance. The Lamborghini Gallardo image, for example, is exceptional. But enthusiasts will notice small details, like the hint (on the AI image) of a black spoiler to the rear that you wouldn’t find on a standard factory car.

Others are less accurate by far. For instance, the AI-generated Bedford Rascal, despite being distinctly van-shaped, looks nothing like an actual Bedford Rascal and the Fiat looks more like a newer model crossed with a VW Beetle than it does a classic 500, despite us instructing AI to use classics.

Across the board, really, there were some sizing issues where cars looked far too big in comparison to the properties they were parked outside. But all in all, this was a lot of fun to experiment with.”

BONORUM, Featured, MotoringEditor in Chief10 July 2023