Well, the boss got home today and she came in and told me "I want you to see this" so we walked to the garage and I was surprised to see that the climate control panel had completely detached and was held to the rest of the car by two vacuum lines and two electrical wires. I easily detached those and now have the plate with me. It appears that the cover was glued to the control unit (that is, the thingy with the thumb wheel, push buttons and fan control) at two points and that the glue had finally failed. My problem is that my manual does not have an actual picture of the 88 SL cover showing how it is attached. I see two screw holes at the bottom of the opening, but I see no screw holes in the cover. On the other hand it seems to me that more than glue is needed to keep the heavy contol unit attached to the cover. Any ideas on how to put it all back together?
Thanks.

JL