It’s no surprise that I love Robert Downey Jr. as both an actor and just a human being. So when he created a show called Downey’s Dream Cars, I was in. What ended up being the more fascinating aspect of the show to me though (second obviously to Downey’s fun nonsense) was how much I enjoyed the experts that he asked to help him. The concept of the show is Downey turning his classic cars into eco-friendly versions of themselves. He tries to help the world in whatever ways he can with things like his Footprint Coalition and so his collection of classic cars kind of negated the work he was doing there.
The show featured a number of Downey’s collection and he worked with teams to help change them into a variety of different eco friendly options. If they couldn’t make them electric or use vegetable oil to run, they’d offer help to climate change in some other way (like monitoring the air quality levels as you drove it). The two men that Downey worked with the most were Chris Mazzilli and Rich Benoit, two men who specialize in either restoring classic cars (Mazzilli) or creating an eco-friendly vehicle (Benoit).
What I loved about their dynamic is that you could tell both Mazzilli and Benoit loved the work but also loved cars as a whole and they’d challenge a bit of what Downey was trying to do and make it a more obtainable goal in the long run. And in talking to them, it is clear just how much they both enjoyed working on the show as a whole.
Cars for a new era.
I spoke with Mazzilli and Benoit right before the series finished airing on Max. For Benoit, the challenge of bringing these cars a new life was what drew him to the show. “The biggest thing for me was, you know I’m a car guy through and through, I’ve loved cars my whole life,” he said. “And I think one of the more challenging things was taking what the car was and changing it into something else. So for example, you know, a lot of the cars had these big supercharged V-8s, et cetera, et cetera, or regular small block, big block Chevys. And changing it was the hardest thing for me. I thought to myself, ‘I’m changing the essence of the car.’ So that was huge. But later on you kinda learned that it’s all in the spirit of hot rodding. None of the cars that we worked on had the original engines in the first place. So now we’re just kind of taking the next step and evolving what car culture really is.”
Hot rodding is when you modify a car, typically a classic one, and change it from its original form. My father did this to an older MG when I was a kid and it was fascinating to see him fix up the car. For both Mazzilli and Benoit, this is something they love to do with their time and energy and Benoit went on to talk about how it was a great opportunity, especially with someone like Downey involved. “So I think that that was a great opportunity to do that, to make some changes for our future. And also work with an A-list celebrity ’cause I’m kind of like a nobody, so that was a big deal.”
Mazzilli, in one of the episodes, is clearly a little hesitant to work on a car. Meaning changing it. When it goes to Benoit, he is equally a little hesitant because they are both, at the end of the day, car guys. However, Mazzilli talked about knowing that it was what his customer (Downey in this case) wanted. “At the end of the day, it’s really what the client wants,” he said. “We’re kinda like the chefs. So if I have it in the kitchen and I can make it for ’em, I’m gonna make it. And if I can’t, I’ll find somebody else who can. And that’s how Rich came into play. Sometimes personally I don’t agree what somebody is doing to their car, but we do it because that’s what they want, you know? And ultimately it’s the customer’s decision, their right to do it. And although I may not do it to my own cars, that’s okay. And I think Rich makes a good point about hot rodding. It’s been around forever and kind of whatever floats your boat, whatever makes you happy. Whether it be an electric motor, a diesel motor, or whatever you wanna do a modern motor, that’s okay.”
I went into Downey’s Dream Cars for my own excitement and love of his work and left with a better understanding of cars, fixing them to make them better for the environment, and two new men to look into because both Chris Mazzilli and Rich Benoit are incredible!
(featured image: Max)
