For those who know me in real life, you likely already know I began an experiment to learn AI tools like image-generation when Midjourney first came to the fore. I launched the Instagram account @4Rings.AI and have been posting to it ever since. Beyond learning, the project had really just been a guilty pleasure to create and visualize ideas for project cars that run through my head, or generate cool automotive imagery that even goes directions I don’t always plan. Mainly though, it’s just been for fun.
So far, via this blog, I’ve primarily used the skills learned with @4Rings.AI to visualize cars that don’t yet exist, or illustrate stories such as the ongoing Mittelmotor Saga series where photos don’t exist or I don’t have access to print images that do exist. In that, it’s been a useful tool.
Last week, I began this recurring series in order to share less story-focused content. Here’s the only expectations are to share what’s cool. This might be digging back into the back catalogue in order to show something that did particularly well online, or it might be sharing some idea that’s percolated more recently. The latter is definitely the theme this week.
The Idea
I own an ur quattro, and previously owned an incredibly clean 1984 Audi 4000 quattro – about as close as it gets to a 4-door sedan version of that ur quattro. I’m also a fan of the Lancia Delta Integrale, a car that took over rallying much as the quattro did during the post-Group B era.
As a result, I’ve had the idea for a four-door quattro for some time. The Delta pulls it off particularly well, and it’s got as much of a cult following as the quattro for very good reason. Box flares on a four-door hatch work, so why wouldn’t they work on a quattro.
Midjourney, the image-generating AI tool I use most, just recently began beta testing Midjourney 7. The results are of higher caliber than before, more realistic on images like these cars where that’s the intent. It’s still got its AI oddities, but I tend to clean up most of that in post processing with photoshop. The consistency though is what’s really most impressive. In cases such as this car, I was able to basically replicate it from multiple angles – very impressive.
The Audi quattro Sportback
The idea here then is pretty simple – take the quattro, and make it a four-door. The ur quattro would have had more of a raked windshield and longer doors, so in real life that might be easier said than done. However, the Sport quattro had the upright windshield of the 80 sedan, and these images tend to harken the Sport quattro more than they do the longer-wheelbase ur quattro.
Also, neither the ur quattro nor the Sport quattro were a hatchback. This one doesn’t appear to be either, but that’s notably different than the Delta Integrale. Volkswagen made a 5-door hatchback of the B2 for the Passat, but it wasn’t nearly as handsome as this, with somewhat awkward proportions that this car doesn’t share.
So, what do you think? Should Audi have built a Sportback version of their rally legend?
P.S. Follow @4Rings.AI on Instagram if you want to see many, many more creations of this nature.
PHOTO GALLERY
