#Robert Downey Jr. Says He and Jeremy Renner “Will Have to Compare Notes” After Both Launching Vehicle Renovation Shows

One by one, the Avengers appear to be getting into the renovation business.

Two months after Jeremy Renner launched his Disney+ series Rennervations, where he flips decommissioned vehicles into creations that benefit the community, Robert Downey Jr. is debuting his own series, Downey’s Dream Cars. The Max docuseries follows the star as he converts six classic cars from his own personal collection into more eco-friendly machines.

“I think it’s so wild that he and I have both had these kind of departures from our day job together. We will have to compare notes,” Downey Jr. told The Hollywood Reporter at his show’s Los Angeles premiere on Friday of he and Renner’s similar paths. “And like we always say, and I will say to Jeremy again, ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.’”

The idea for the series came after Downey Jr. started Footprint Coalition, a company fighting against climate change by investing in innovative climate tech. His wife Susan Downey said they looked at the actor’s extensive car collection and realized “that these two things didn’t reconcile and decided, ‘Well what can I do to make an entertaining show that will get people’s attention and can talk about the future of mobility without finger-wagging and just get people leaning in?’ And so we had this idea to convert these cars.”

Downey Jr. collaborated with experts across the country on the conversions, which each feature a different kind of environmental technology. The cars were all on display for Friday’s premiere at the Petersen Automotive Museum, where the star announced that all of the vehicles will be given away in a sweepstakes, with the proceeds going to the Footprint Coalition for scaling technologies that save the planet.

The premiere also featured a post-screening chat with fellow car lover Dax Shepard, as Downey Jr. explained that he sees the show as “more of a sign to a larger symbol” as companies are starting to do eco-conversions at a larger scale.

“I think between the aggregate of the people who are knowing how to do this and then places where they’ll be able to do it a little more to scale, I think it’s possible to not have all of these more classic cars continue to dump carbon on us,” he continued.

Shepard, who explained that his entire life’s goal was to make enough money to buy cars and motorcycles, joked that now, “I’ve got them, and I’m like hold on a second, these things are killing the planet? No one told me that, I would’ve done my whole life differently,” as Downey Jr. specifically called out his Buick Roadmaster.

“I’ve been trying to be like you since 1989, so if ever there was a guy that I think could make this look cool, I applaud you for being the one, and I will say you did convert me,” Shepard replied. “I absolutely love this show, and I’m very open to the notion of doing this to perhaps the Buick Roadmaster.”

“I think that’s a season two commitment,” Downey Jr. winked.

Downey’s Dream Cars premieres June 22 on Max.