I have a 1986 300SDL which I have owned and loved for almost six years. July 1, 1996 I hit a deer and did a lot o front end damage. When fixing it, I had the body man put in Euro lights. What a difference! I absolutely love them. All of the above comments about higher wattage bulbs and better vision at night are true. I bought mine from Capitol West at 800.445.8648 or http://www.cal.net/capitolwest - talk to Wiletta. They have developed a small, inexpensive kit for my 126 body that will adapt the headlight wipers.

Like other things, once you try them you will never go back!

Kent in Iowa

I find the euro headlight pursuit interesting. Some people just don't like the look of the original headlight/foglight combo on 300D and CD. Others note euro lights provide better illumination. Personally, I think the original headlight/foglight scheme on "american" (?) version more attractive and more in keeping with the car's overall design. I don't want my car to look newer and I like the fact that it has a different headlight design. Better illumination is always desirable but I don't really have any difficulty at night with current setup. I guess its all in the eyes of the beholder.

May be on the older benzes it does look ok, more like a diferent design of a head light. But on 124 and 126 the american version looks horable ! Like a mutation.
Seems like the designers came up with a pretty nice looking headlight, and than had to come up with a modification to satisfy the US DOT. The result is some sort of a quick "rigger" that looks out of wack. All it's missing is a ducttape

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Dmitry
90' 300CE
17" Intra Signums
Brulen mufler
Euro Headlights/Clear Blinkers
White gouges (made my own)

Both of you raise good points. The body on my 1986 is just like the 126 body up until either 1991 or 1994, so with the 8 hole wheels I added and the Eurolights, my car is essentially identical to the newer ones, but if that does not appeal to you, it's your life.

I, for one, do do a lot of night driving and the night vision advantage of Eurolights is remarkable.

Keep thinking,

Kent

I too am planning to add Euro headlights to my 1986 420SEL. I personally think that the lights it came with were a sacrifice to North America's antiquated auto specifications. The Euro lights are not just for looks, they were designed by the same team that made the whole car, and the euro lights just make the cars look right. I personally think that the NA stlye lights with the plastic covers look cheap. Especially on older cars when the plastic discoloures and with the lights off it looks horrible. If you can't afford euro lights a new set of these plastic covers does go a long way towards imporving the looks of your car. I just replaced one because it was cracked. It is much clearer (almost glass like) than the other. I would change the other too so they match, but I wil live with it and put the $100 towards a new set of Euro Lights. BTW the plastic lense are really easy to change. I did one myself in 5 minutes.

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Jason Priest
1999 E430
1995 E420 - retired
1986 420SEL - retired

I own a 1981 300SD U.S. edition, and I often drive a 1983 280SEL Euro edition. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, I prefer the look of the Euro lights. They make the car look newer and they give the front end smoother lines. From a safety standpoint, the Euro lights are superior. While US lights seem to randomly illuminate the area in front of the car, the Euro lights have a very bright, clear, and definite area of road illumination.

Additionally, the lenses are asymmetrical, so the light extends further down the road on the right hand side. This is useful for spotting wildlife while not blinding oncoming traffic. And if you enjoy playing with little gadgets (which I do), the gray market cars which came with Euro lights standard also included a light angle adjustment system. There is a little wheel inside the car next to the headlight switch that will adjust the headlight angle by several degrees to compensate for luggage and back seat passengers. It is a neat little toy. When I get around to it, you can be sure I will be installing Euro lights on my SD.

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Ben

The MBs:
1976 300D (W115) - 330K and still going (sort of)
1991 300D 2.5 Turbo - Sold at 221K
1983 280SEL - Sold at 206K
1981 300SD - Sold at 232K

Here is something from http://lighting.mbz.org/faq/#legal:

"In the United States, E-code headlamps may be sold only for off-road use, because they do not conform to US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108. It is a matter of State law as to what sort of headlamps you can or cannot install on your own vehicle. The vast majority of US states do not specify any particular type of headlamp, as long as it emits white light, has an upper and lower beam setting, and is aimed in a manner so as not to dazzle other road users. If your state does not have a vehicle headlamp inspection, it would be extremely unlikely that you would experience difficulties if you were to use off-road headlamps on the road.

Some eastern Seaboard states, such as NJ, PA, VA and MD, still specify that E-code headlamps may only be used on motorcycles, which is puzzling indeed--they seem to be saying that if you cut your car in half down the middle, you will be permitted to use lights that will allow you to SEE at night, but NOT if you wish to have all four wheels on the ground at once! This is one of those "olde-tyme" laws that never got wiped from the books by "enlightened" lawmakers. It's interesting to note that while most states don't care what kind of headlamp you install on your own car, Oregon, Washington and a few other states explicitly PERMIT E-code headlamps on all vehicles, because of their superiority in the rainy and foggy weather conditions experienced there. "

Jack
93 400e