I just bought a beautiful 89 740 turbo....body and interior are in amazing condition, but the motor needs work. its been sitting in storage for 3 years after the old lady who owned it died. paid 400$ CND for it, and figured i can't go wrong...
the hood release cable is snapped. i can pull the red lever, and can also pull the cable...everything is loose. the cable fell off the handle, i can grab it and yank it out completely, so i know its snapped. How do i open the hood? seems like its not easy to do...but its the first thing that needs to be done before i start work on the car

Also, are there anythings i should do/check before attempting to start this car which has not run for 3 years?
thanks

Take out the inside head lights (high beams) and you should be able to access the hood release. At least that is how my dealer fixes the problem.

From the brickboard.com FAQ 700 info:
Cable is Broken or Has Come Unattached. [Query:] Anybody knows how to open the hood from outside on a 740, when the cable doesn't work? The latter can no longer be adjusted, and now the hood is stuck closed. Unhooking the handle and pulling the cable itself doesn't work either. [Response: JohnB]. You have to go in from under the bumper, drop the belly pan, long arm up to the cable and pull/flex should release the two locks. Sometimes it helps to have two people, i.e., the springs on the two locks aren't pushing up the hood so while you're pulling on the cable another person lifts up on hood so the hood comes up to the safety latch. Usually pulling the inner wire and holding onto the cable body at the inside the car point works unless the inner wire is broken, in which case you have to access the combined lever to both latches or both latches individually. There are two latches, both cable operated, just outboard of each spring-loaded hood locating pin. If you look at a friend's 7xx you should be able to see where the cable split or lever(s) are). Difficult to describe verbally but once you see one when you have to fix it you never forget it. Take a look at how this works when it is operating normally so you can repair it when it fails. [Tip] If your car has the four-headlamp fitment, you can remove the two inner headlights and work the latches by hand to get the hood open.

thanks! that's awsome, because the car already has its two high beam headlights removed and placed in the back seat. i want to get the hood open before i go pick it up... i bought it from a nice old lady, but with my luck i'll bring it home, get the hood open and see that the block is cracked, the engine is gone, the turbo is gone, or soemthing horrible like that.