Hi all -

FIrst let me thank this forum and FastLane for the great help they've provided me this past week, as I am the new owner of an `83 300D turbo sedan with 150,000 miles.

I resurrected the ailing electrical system, now I have everything working except the dash backlighting (ran out of time last night to solve this one). I did a ton of reading on these forums, fixed a number of minor little details on the car using DIY links and suggestions from here.

My next challenge is this: opening the trunk with no key!! Can I do this by removing the rear seatback? Previous owner had broken off the ignition key (the only one he had) in the ignition, a friend of his fixed it with a junkyard tumbler set & key... now I have no key for the side doors or trunk. I'd like to open the trunk to make sure Jimmy Hoffa isn't in there.

The local MB dealer can sell me a complete lock set for $385, so he says. But he wanted $120 for the same ignition tumbler I got for $54 from Phil at Fastlane... I'd probably pay the $385 to have one matching key, however I figured I'd check here for advice BEFORE I do that.


Next up: vacuum system repair!! Otherwise, this car is already performing daily drive duty, and is starting up *easily* in temps below 20* F.

thanks again for any suggestions,

-scott