Had a quick late night repair on my recently purchased 500SE euro tonight when I got home from work, did a small tweak to see if I could get it to run better. Whether I dropped the hood down to the safety catch because I thought I would be opening it again or I just didn't shut it hard enough I don't know. Decided to take the car for a short test drive since I couldn't tell for sure if I had made any difference and I didn't want to wake any neighbors... No signs of trouble until almost back to the house from a short spin when BAAM!!! hood flipped all the way back and hit the windshield at about 40 miles per hour! Thank god for several things, the windshield is fine, I pulled over safely into the grass median, and I got the hood closed. So much for a nearly perfect body and I can't tell if it's salvageable yet but at least the hood isn't different on euro models
afaik. Bent crosswise in the middle and also bent one of the hinges, paint popped in a few places but it latches securely and is drivable for now. I'll post some pics up tomorrow since its about 1230am here right now
You can sure as hell bet from now on I'm going to double check a hood is closed after working on a car before driving it from now on!