Found plastic handle of my hood release rolling on the floor of the car. I bought this thing used and am finding things falling off or breaking all over. Now i don't know how to open the hood. I want to fix this thing up, it's a fun car.

 

If its just the handle Grab the end the handle attached to with a pair of vice grips.. yank it open your hood and replace the cable. done that many times on previous vehicles if the entire rod and handle came out find the end of the cable and grab it with the grips.

 

Firefighters have to do this frequently without getting into the passenger compartment to disconnect the battery. Use a haligan bar to bust out your grill then locate the cable and use haligan as a lever to pry on the cable. If that doesn't work, just jam the wedge end under the hood and pry up and down until the latch gives way. Then purchase new hood, latch assembly, grill, cable, and other various parts that got in the way. shouldn't cost more than a couple grand to repair, does that help?

 

Actually, Rick has the better idea, try his first!