Andrew Beckford, MotorTrend
As I walk through the massive, vaultlike door to the Team Downey production office, I'm invited to take a seat. Immediately to my left stands the Mark I suit from the first Iron Man film. A few minutes and no less than four offers of water later, I'm told he's ready. Stepping onto a balcony overlooking Venice, California, I'm greeted by Hollywood A-List star Robert Downey Jr.
Your understandable knee jerk reaction here may be to wonder what the hell MotorTrend wants to talk to Downey about. The answer is simple. At the height of the 58-year-old actor's tenure as the Marvel Cinematic Universe's franchise player, he amassed a large collection of high-end modern and classic cars.
Following his farewell turn as Iron Man in 2019's Avengers: Endgame, Downey decided he wanted to devote effort and resources to help the vulnerable blue world we call Earth. He founded the Footprint Coalition, a venture group that invests in companies dealing in environmentally friendly technologies. He also changed his diet and started a rescue farm with his wife, Susan. Realizing his walk needed to better match his talk, he acknowledged he couldn't be the overlord of a warehouse filled with some not-so-eco-friendly vehicles. That realization led to Downey's Dream Cars, which premieres June 22 streaming on Max.
