STREET TALK

At last, we may have the ultimate car, complete with amazing fuel economy and unbelievable pooh-pooh appeal. The electric Mercedes-Benz has arrived-in Richardson.

Jack Hooker and George Thiess have formed Electric Motor Cars of Richardson, and they are planning to convert a Mercedes-Benz 190E to join the fleet of electric Ford Escorts and Granadas, Dodge Omnis and Pontiac J-2OOOs in their showroom. The dealership now has 10 electric cars.

But the Electric Motor Cars aren’t just your average run-for-40-miles-then-quit electric cars. They’re powered by magnesium, which is extracted from sea water. The men worked together to develop the product with the help of federal grants. And they aren’t inexperienced. Theiss is the inventor of the digital watch, and Hooker is responsible for introducing the first Mercedes to Dallas in 1958. The men say that the electric-powered cars will run for 400 to 500 miles on one energy fill-up, will hit 60 mph as quickly as most gas-powered engines and will cost about the same to operate. The advantage, they say, is that we won’t ran out of ocean water.



It will be called “Mainline” -the area of Main Street near Deep Ellum between the Peak and Haskell couplet. For a year or so, this sleepy area has been slowly coming alive with the help of a few antique stores. Now, Haute magazine publisher Eric Kimmel and his brother, Bret, have leased two separate spaces on the street, which they plan to make into a fashion plaza and a restaurant. The plaza, appropriately called The Main Fashion Plaza, will house a handful of small boutiques, one carrying a full line of Parachute clothing (which is sold in few stores outside of Soho) for men and women, one carrying Morgan chocolates, another carrying eve-ningwear originals by NorthTexas State University and ElCentra fashion students and abook boutique carrying fashion periodicals from aroundthe world. Other possible tenants include Vaal and RonnieNervousware (a local clothingdesign partnership) and designs by Todd Oldham. A fewdoors down, the Kimmels areopening Merican restaurant,featuring what Eric refers to as”Euro-Asian” food. The placewill be designed like a sushibar but will serve a mixture ofcontinental and Oriental food.A mid-March opening is expected.



When we think of chairpersons of charity ball committees, we generally picture the Junior League type. This time, that’s not the case. The charity ball benefiting the National Jewish Hospital/National Asthma Center to be held in Dallas at the end of this month has been put together by a rather different group: William D. Breedlove, vice chairman of InterFirst Corp. (who will serve as dinner chairman); George L. Clark, chairman of the board of Mercantile National Bank (dinner treasurer); and Robert Ted Enloe, president of Lomas & Nettleton Financial Corp. (chairman-elect, 1985). Some of the 17 dinner vice chairmen include John R. Johnson, partner of Johnson & Swanson law firm; Jess Hay, chairman of Lomas & Nettleton; Richard Marcus of Neiman-Marcus; and Thomas R. McCartin, publisher of the Dallas Times Herald.



The word is out that Dallas-ites like to be pampered, and Florida-based National Valet is considering the notion to be quite an opportunity. The company began offering valet parking in Dallas last November when Bloomingdale’s opened. The idea has caught on so well that now the company is planning to expand to the new Macy’s (which is scheduled to open in the Galleria within a year) as well as to NorthPark and at least three other malls.