I recently had a deer strike that damaged my front end, including the hood. The car is driveable and upon first getting home from the deer collision I could open the hood. Since then the hood release handle (below front bumper) has become disengaged from its' assembly, I can no longer open the hood. To add insult to injury, my battery has gone dead, so I cannot move the car or service the battery. I have reviewed the 1972 service manual and understand how the release match mechanism works. However, after multiple tries to get the release handle back into its location in the latch assembly, it just won't go. I tried to access the latch assembly via the opening in the lower valence- you can't get there from here. Any tips on how to get my hood opening without causing additional damage to the hood?

Can you get a really long, flat bladed screwdriver through to the latch and tap it in the right place with a hammer?

Rick

I have not used a hammer yet, will try that next, thanks

maybe a coat hanger to hook onto the mechanism and pull? metal coat hanger of course..

Thanks, I will try that