In another thread i'd made a comment about hood latches on the early 300SD's. All of the MB that i've seen over the years have the grey latches that always come out of the grill. I drove to Houston to look at a 1984 300SD this past weekend that my father purchased. I went to raise the hood and the grey latch didn't come out of the grill. The owner said that they're at the side. I reached to the right and left of the grill and pulled the two levers towards the center grill and it popped open. Was this common? Some have it and some don't? options that you had. The owner told me that his father and about 10 other men went to Germany and bought the cars, which where built for the U.S. only. I was wondering if this made any difference.