Adam,

Your question about the Euro lights shows that you're moving in the right direction. The problem you're having is reflector shape, not light wattage. The US lights just won't cut it, regardless of the wattage. I personally would not reccomend high wattage bulbs. They may not blow a fuse or melt anything immediately, but the long term effect will be a negative one.

Have you seen the article in the Star magazine on upgrading 124 lights. If you decide to spring for Euro lights, it will be worth tracking down a copy of this article and doing the upgrade correctly.

While in Germany, I went to a wrecking yard one Saturday morning. They had 124 headlight assemblies for DM180 each. At todays exchange rate, that's about $80 per side. I did not have that much in DM at the time and was concerned about lugging them for the rest of my trip and then checking them with my baggage.

After I get my 300E back together, I plan on pursuing buying these from a salvage yard in Germany. I may even get them cheaper. Shipping them back "slow boat" should not be that expensive.

In the article they also show you how to install the height adjuster. On all the Euro cars there is a vacuum operated adjuster, with it's control mounted somewhere on the dash. The article in the Star gives the part numbers for these pieces as well. I have the adjuster on my 240D Euros and it works great for my purposes. I drive about 190 miles per day, with about 40 of that on winding, hilly Farm to Market road. I have to dodge deer and escaped livestock. There is very little traffic on this section of road, so I find myself using the height adjustment to raise the lights a little for those miles.

As a stop gap, I noticed that Sylvania now makes available an Extra Vision bulb for this car. That would not tax your electrical system.

I'll let you know what I find out about the Euro lights. It will probably be a few months before I get to this project.

Good luck,

------------------
Larry Bible
'01 C Class, Six Speed
'84 Euro 240D, 523K miles
'88 300E 5 Speed
'81 300D Daughter's Car
Over 800,000 miles in
Mercedes automobiles