Robert Downey Jr. Wants Us To Rethink Classic Cars And Climate Change With His New Discovery+ Show

Like Jeremy Clarkson and Xzibit before him, Robert Downey Jr. is getting into the classic car game with a view to changing the planet. Instead of retrofitting classic rides with a minibar and an airbrushed mural of The Vision, Downey’s Dream Cars will upgrade the cars in the actor’s garage to make them better for the environment.

“My goal is to showcase that it’s possible to keep the integrity of classic cars while leveraging new tech and innovation to make them more eco-friendly,” Downey Jr. said.

His collection includes a 1967 Corvette Stingray Convertible, a Bentley Continental GT, several Audis, a Ferrari, and a luxury vehicle that already comes with green bonafides: the Fisker Karma, which pioneered pricey plug-ins before going out of business when their battery manufacturer tanked. Maybe Downey’s Dream Cars will find a way to bring it back to life.

With major car makers pledging to go mostly or all-electric within the next decade, a dad-bait show about classic cars and saving the planet feels like the last step in the process of making electric vehicles cool. Maybe Downey Jr. can invite Sydney Sweeney on to show him how it’s done and let him borrow the pink gloves.