Suburban Overlander #9: Useless But Pretty Visual Update

Blame ChatGPT.

It all started innocently enough, wondering what our next car should be.

Looking casually at the used car market, one thing is apparent.

Modern cars have gotten boring.

They all look the same. Little jellybeans in gray, black, or white.

So I got curious. What if we bought a boring jellybean and put some custom wheels on it and wrapped half of it to give it a two-tone color scheme?

Turns out ChatGPT is excellent at this game. Give it a year, make, and model. Tell it what colors you want, and it's pretty good at visualizing it. You may have to iterate a few times, but it's kind of amazing. Sure beats Photoshop!

In the middle of creating cool looking Prius and Golf sedans, I thought, heck, why not see what the Suburban would look like in a two tone?

Maybe with that Champagne Gold Metallic you wanted to paint your Jeep years ago? It always looked good with black and white accents.

Big mistake.

Because the minute I saw ChatGPT's response, I knew I was going to end up having it done to the truck.

Here's what it came back with.

I've tried to learn to appreciate the simple black and white color scheme it came with, but once I saw the gold added I couldn't unsee it. 

And a few weeks and some monies later, here is the vision implemented on my truck by a local wrap shop.

(...and before you ask, yes, I thought about wrapping the wheel arches. Yes, I thought about switching to white door handles. Yes, I thought about wrapping the bumpers. Yes, I left the door moldings in place on purpose. I had ChatGPT model every possible option but I kept coming back to this configuration. It needs the right balance of white, gold, black and chrome to look right to my eye.)

The color isn't exactly what I wanted, but working with wrap vinyl isn't like paint. You have a limited selection and can't say "just like that but a bit lighter".

This color vinyl had "bronze" in the name but was the only option close to the Champagne Gold I had envisioned. The next color in the palette is what you currently see puked over our White House Oval Office.

Getting the truck back, I immediately loved how the sides looked. The hood took a few days to get used to as it wasn't how it looked in my head. I had to see it at a local overlanding group meetup and in the middle of a Jeep and Toyota sea it was fine. I appreciate having the darker color there while driving on sunny days.

It's not a functional update, but it helps me smile more when I see the truck waiting in the parking lot.