Every year, Hagerty Classic Car Insurance deals with hundreds of hot rod enthusiasts and their prized rides, and like with anything, there are a lot of interesting stories that come from all this. From these stories, feature rodders and their rides are chosen for Car of the Month and ultimately the Car of the Year. Check out the amazing story behind last year’s Car of the Year winner in the video above.

In working with their clients, Hagerty employees hear a ton of interesting stories. These stories are so interesting, in fact, that Hagerty started making note of them in order to feature one car and its owner once a month on their website as the Car of the Month winner.

When the year is over, Hagerty then holds a vote for their employees to choose which of the Car of the Month contenders will be named Car of the Month.

Last year, it was George Hooker and his 1937 Chevy Master Deluxe that won that title.

Hooker has not had it easy in the last several years, first having to have a heart transplant and then dealing with debilitating brain lesions. But no matter how much he struggled with, there was always two things in his life that always stayed true– his wife Donna and his ’37 Chevy.

Hooker’s focus now is enjoying life to the fullest with his hot rod along for the ride!

Though life and then his health issues pushed the Chevy to the back burner for awhile, Hooker was determined to get his dream car up and running one day, and that’s exactly what he did.

Now complete (or as complete as they ever are), Hooker is enjoying his gorgeous ride to the fullest with health intact and his wife right by his side.

Congratulations goes out to Hooker and his car for getting this amazing honor and we can’t wait to see who Hagerty chooses for 2014’s Car of the Year in the near future!