FOR David Wilkinson, a marble and stone contractor whose products adorn some of the grandest lobbies in Manhattan (think Goldman Sachs and the Bank of America tower), owning a British car has always been fraught with compromise. The one car that has remained in his garage and has satisfied all of his particular requirements — notably speed, beauty and interior space — is a 1956 Bentley S1 Continental Coupe he bought at auction in 1971 for $6,300, a price that now seems startlingly low. What DePalma and his riding mechanic — there were two seats in the racecars back then — did was hop out and push the car more than a mile and a half to the finish line, to the roar of the 80,000 in attendance. Bentley was part of Rolls-Royce at the time and there wasn’t much difference between the S1 Continental and the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud of the era (a car that had a star turn in the famous Grey Poupon commercial). read more

Brian Hirt talks Wednesday about the upcoming auction of vehicles the city has in its impound yard. There may be only a few gems among vehicles on the auction block next week from the Hutchinson Police Department’s impound lot. About 75 vehicles will be included in the auction, accumulated since the last auction in November 2007, when 85 vehicles were sold. Many of the cars abandoned by owners have miscellaneous junk inside - from clothes and cards, to trash and cigarettes - that Hirt and police department volunteers will clean out next week before the auction. Owners can still claim their vehicles before the auction, Hirt said, if they provide proof of ownership and pay fees associated with the tow and storage. Storage fees are accrued on the vehicles at $10 per day, but Hirt said the fee isn’t charged until the notice letter is sent out. read more

CLASSIC cars and collectibles featured at the 35th Annual Hill Country Classic Car Auction drew enthusiasts to the Gillespie County Fair Grounds on Friday and Saturday. Hill Country Memorial Hospital was recently cited as one of the top hospitals in the nation for keeping patients happy. In fact, the medical facility’s patient satisfaction rating placed it in the top eight percent of all hospitals in the United States, according to Press Ganey, a national hospital auditing organization. It shows time and time again, and I’m not surprised to have a national patient satisfaction ranking this high,” Williams said. Press Ganey specifically reported that the hospital’s in-patient, emergency room and home care satisfaction ratings ranked in the top eight percent of all hospitals in the country. And, the ambulatory surgery patient satisfaction rating ranked in the top seven percent of all hospitals. read more