I’ve had a lifelong love affair with cars. As a child, I would draw my dream cars, and looking back, they resembled the machines Spyker builds today: dramatic and futuristic.

That may explain why the new Spyker C8 Preliator XXV Coupé immediately caught my attention. The Dutch automaker’s 800-horsepower hypercar combines aviation-inspired design, handcrafted details, and the kind of mechanical driving experience that is slowly disappearing.

Although I love technology, I appreciate Spyker’s decision to make this car more tactile. Modern vehicles continue to add larger screens, automated systems, and electronic driving aids. Spyker is moving in another direction.

A head-up display is the only screen. The remaining controls are analog, tactile, and meant to be operated by hand.

The Preliator XXV is powered by a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 producing 1,000 Nm of torque. It can reach speeds beyond 217 mph. Those numbers are impressive, but its six-speed manual transmission is the feature that interests me most. There are no paddle shifters or automated substitutes. The driver chooses when to shift and feels every gear change.

Spyker also avoids the industry’s reliance on carbon fiber. Each body is shaped by hand from aluminum, and one car takes approximately 2,100 hours to build. The steering wheel alone requires four hours of stitching. Even the interior screw heads are aligned by hand.

The aviation influence appears in the NACA ducts, afterburner-shaped taillights, turbine details, and prominent rear fin. Spyker’s exposed gear linkage adds another mechanical touch.

Only 25 examples will be built, so I will probably never own one. But this is the kind of machine that first made me fall in love with automobiles.