A/C hoses

[grafspee1217]

Hi everyone. I recently acquired a very nice 1990 300D. I purchased the car from a friends mother and understood that the A/C probably had a leak. The system was charged last year and isnt cooling anymore. I purchased a complete oring kit and receiver/ dryer. I was planning on replacing the hoses as well and assumed the hoses were probably original with the car. I was going to connect my gauges to recover any refrigerant still in the system and noticed the connections were 134a style. These were not the adapters that you add to the old style gauge ports but were actual 134 fittings as part of the steel portion of the suction and liquid lines. I was under the impression that this car had R12 as the original refrigerant type. What am I missing? I thought perhaps someone already replaced the hoses and the replacements now come with 134a connections. Any ideas?

I also noticed that the TXV (expansion valve) is in an ungodly location. How do you get it out? I thought about removing the rain tray that funnels water from the windsheild but don't know it that would help any.

Thanks