I had to replace the radiator in my 1970 280 SL. The shop that took the radiator out lost the mechanic who took the hood off and now no one can figure out how to connect the spring arm from the hood to the body. There is a rod coming out of the hood which connects to a holder on the body no one can figure out how to attach the rod to the body. I have 10 different pictures of the motor but all conveniently cut off the left side of the car where the hood is attached, I went to Mercedes to try and get a picture of the hood connection and all I could find was a list of the parts and their name. I know what they look like I need to know how the puzzle goes back together.

What year is your car? 280SLs were made from 1968 to 1985.

The spring does not hook to the body..it rides in a slide on the left inner fender well.
The trick is to take an S hook and load tension on the spring by turning it CCW and then hooking it into a hole in the hood channel with the S hook. It is then under tension and when you put the hood back on, you release the hook and the spring will tension down into the slide recepticle.
This is for the front hinged 113 chassis/280sl hood [68-71]..the later 107 chassis/280sl does not use this system as they hinge the hood at the rear and do not require hood removal to change the radiator.