Jeremy Renner may be one of the most grounded celebrities in Hollywood. When he is not starring as the Marvel Avenger “Hawkeye” or in Oscar-nominated films like Hurt Locker, he restores houses. Therefore, it might not surprise you that his car collection is mostly a vintage fire truck collection. Renner likes to work on his vintage fire trucks himself, and 30 of them are on-call to fight forest fires near his Nevada home.
Jeremy Renner: blue collar superhero
Jeremy Renner arriving at a Hollywood premiere in style | Don Arnold/WireImage via Getty Images
When Jeremy Renner was first trying to become an actor in Hollywood, he could barely make ends meet. He told Men’s Health that he often could not afford electricity or hot water for his apartment, his grocery budget was sometimes as low as $10 for the month. So he started a side hustle.
Modesto, California-born Renner began to buy, restore, and flip vintage houses. Many of the homes he chose were from the 1920s. He said his second career, “shaped who I am in a lot of ways. It taught me how attentive I am to detail.”
But Renner did eventually find success in Hollywood: big time. He broke out with 2003’s S.W.A.T., then was nominated for an Oscar in 2008’s Hurt Locker. Many recognize him for 2007’s 28 Weeks Later, 2011’s Mission: Impossible, 2012’s The Bourne Legacy, or 2010’s The Town. Renner has even been a Jeep spokesman.
Renner was promoted from spy to superhero in 2012’s Avengers, playing sharpshooting super-soldier Hawkeye. Jeremy Renner has been a major part of Marvel’s cinematic universe ever since.
Renner’s horsepower ranch
I found this old fire truck I fell in love with…. I couldn’t sleep thinking about the possibilities for restoration and get this badass machine on the road again #restoration #garage #covidproject2020 pic.twitter.com/wqy2pWehDO
— Jeremy Renner (@JeremyRenner) October 18, 2020
During 2020’s Covid-19 quarantine, many people picked up new hobbies. Some learned to knit, others planted gardens. Jeremy Renner collected vintage fire trucks.
For years, Renner had a fairly standard car collection for a Hollywood leading man: A Porsche 914 (which he restored himself), a Tesla EV (the first new car he ever bought), an Acura NSX (gifted from Acura), a Ford F-150 Raptor, and his beloved motorcycles (Triumphs and Nortons).
Then during the quarantine, Renner began to bid on old fire trucks online. He had them shipped to his Lake Tahoe, Nevada ranch. Then he fixed them up. He admitted that by 2022, his collection had grown to 200 vehicles.
Not every one of Renner’s new vehicles is a fire truck. He says he’s branched out to ambulances, utility vans, and even city buses. Renner added that his ranch has no horses, but is “more of a horsepower ranch.”
At the same time, Renner began training with the local volunteer fire department. He admits he has lots of training still to do. But if a forest fire breaks out near his Nevada home, he says he has around 30 operational trucks to lend his fire-fighting friends.
An assortment of purpose-built fire trucks
Jeremy Renner | Vera Anderson/WireImage via Getty Images
Not all of Renner’s fire trucks still fight fires. He restored many of them for other purposes. He is making a mobile vet clinic out of an ambulance and transforming city buses into tiny homes.
One truck Renner’s already finished is a rolling child’s birthday, presumably for his daughter. He has mounted a bounce house on top of the truck and a compressor inside to keep it inflated. Renner even added, “On the side of the rig, Slurpee and snow-cone machines—all that stuff!”
“Anybody can build something from the ground up. I like the limitations of taking something that was once amazing, reconfiguring it, and making it work for today. It’s a different art.”
Jeremy Renner
Any wealthy celebrity can collect Ferraris. Turning vintage fire trucks into birthday-party-mobiles has to be one of the most unique hobbies in Hollywood.
Want to see another collection? Check out Jay Leno’s vintage fire truck.
Keyword: Jeremy Renner From Hawkeye Has Restored Dozens of Vintage Fire Trucks