I’m in a junkyard RIGHT NOW (Saturday morning) to get a roof of an R 52. I can’t get the trunk / boot open!

the fuse box along with the drivetrain is gone. I tried to hook up a battery anyway but there is no positive cable!

is there a manual release???

I watched a YouTube video that showed no release under the rear seat. I tried to remove the bottom of the rear seat to take a look but it will not budge!

I removed the boot trim and tried to jumper the wires but can’t get that to work.

im not above destroying the boot to get it open.

any help while I’m 1.5 hours from home in 20 something degrees??

 

Got it. It was ugly

 

Isnt it just a case of pulling the emergency release handle on the inside, or does that still require power to operate?

 

The glow-in-the-dark handle on the inside of the boot works with and without power. This is the correct way to do it.

 

For anyone reading this in the future there is a pull handle (bent metal rod) attached to the underside of the back seat. After removing it fish it down behind the right back seat back, hook the glow-in-the-dark handle and pull.

 

I wonder why they didn’t keep the original style under-seat cable and just add the glow handle in case someone was locked in the boot? It would be a pain to reach the release handle with the rod if the boot was full of stuff.

 

It is a pain. I’ve had to use it. But better than not having the option if you do shut the tailgate without the battery connected.

 

the bottom of the rear seat would not budge! I didn’t think a pull handle would be there but I was running out of options. This information above is no where that I could find. I looked for a long time!
There is one other way...

 

Right... Pull the handle in the boot that I can't get into...

 

For security. You can lock the boot with the roof down. With the pull handle under the back seat, the pull handle could easily be reached by a would-be thief. I guess they thought that thieves wouldn't be bothered to use the rod to fish for the handle. If your boot was full, you're screwed...

 

So, did you get the top? How hard was it to get that off the car?

 

Yes I did, thanks for asking. It wasn't that hard once I figured out where to unbolt it. My challenges were more with getting to the attachment points under the interior rear side panels. These panels go down beside the rear seat bottom and I could NOT get that bottom out. I tried for some time, even using a prybar. It didn't help that the car had been sideswiped and the passenger door wouldn't open. One of the side panels had already been destroyed so I could get to one side. On the passenger side I had to drill about 50 holes in a pattern to form a panel l could remove to get to the attachment. Those panels are insanely strong!
There was 3 or 4 bolts/nuts at the forward attachment point, 3 bolts at the attachment point in the boot and then the various sensor wires, hydraulic cylinder hoses and leads. Getting it off the car by myself was a challenge but I finally got it.

 

When the roof is up you can reach down behind the rear seat past the parcel shelf. At least, thats how I did it. First time I hooked the seat back release and folded the rear seat down for access, next time I got the handle directly. It seems that the wires get frayed going through the rubber conduit so eventually its not uncommon for the external trunk release to fail as a result..

I does amuse me that they have an emergency release in case anyone is trapped in the trunk. Of a mini convertible. That's got to be a pretty small cross section of society that can be stuffed into a space about the size of a small sports bag. When I go kidnapping people I usually arrange to take my wifes car

 

Good to know that you can reach down through there. The roof was down on the car but the sunroof was closed! I'm not sure how it got in that configuration. I released the hydraulic pressure and was pushing it up and down during the removal but I didn't know the seats folded down until I got in the trunk! Newbie mistake!