Well it was the right bulb that failed (hotter?). The failure was Id's by the warning light on the dash. For years that light would go on sometimes when I hit the brakes. Lights always seemed to work. Back to the fronts, I was glad to see the left wiring seems perfect but I was on alert and didn't handle it very much. I replaced both bulbs yesterday. Car has 121K miles so hot huge hours for a 1995. Mercedes had an issue with insulation that was biodegradable - that sure sounds like a bad idea if you are the type to keep cars for 40 years. So I'm just posting my observation here. I wrapped the wires with black electrical tape, it seemed likely that they could touch and short out. There is a liquid insulation in a can which I plan to have on hand. I'll probably try to buy the headlight connector some day if this liquid insulation doesn't look to be of quality.