OK, I am a heathen. I bought an aftermarket E320 hood to go on the 300E.

When I tried to install the hood star spec'ed for the 94-95 E320s, the spring loaded part extended too far down and was at too extreme an angle to be able to rotate it to get it to seat. So I got a 96+ hood star, which has a shorter spring loaded grip. It will now fit in the hole, but the bottom touches the reinforcement bar welded across the inside of the hole (and the manual shows this reinforcement bar). There is no clearance to pull it down any to get the spring loaded clip to release enough to turn.

Since I have already destroyed the correct part trying to install it, I am thinking of taking the Dremel and cutting out the reinforcement bar to get the 96+ part to install. (after all, the backup hood latch will be bolted onto the underside of this assembly.

I thought I would post and ask for advice before I took a Dremel to the problem. Here is a photo showing the clearance with a red oval showing the part I want to cut out.

What finally resolved this...
was to dremel two dips in the area immediately above the red oval and directly below the two 'wings' of the hood star locking base. I was able to work the star base in to rotate and did not have to cut out all the reinforcement.