If there’s one simple truth, it’s this: Days you drive that special car are better than days you don’t. Maybe it’s not the fastest, cleanest, or even most reliable car. But it’s yours. And every time you turn the key and hear that engine roar to life, something fantastic happens.

Whether it’s hot laps around the local track or a slow Sunday cruise with the family to load up on ice cream, your car is the place you make memories. This is “Why I Drive”—and this is at the heart of Hagerty’s new video series of the same name, which debuts today.

In Episode 1 we meet Eric Dean, who spent three years hand-building a replica of his dream machine, Ford’s iconic GT40. The build was a bit of a struggle at times, “but once it was done, it was one of the most satisfying things in my life.”

Eric calls his car “uncivilized, rowdy, and loud”—so much so that he wears ear plugs whenever he drives it—while at the same time he finds it “peaceful” and “meditative.” Those terms, as we all know, are not mutually exclusive. Yes, there is calm to be found in the storm of a raucous machine, as Eric knows full well.

He didn’t build the GT40 tribute to be a show car; he built it to drive…to feel. Mission accomplished.