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That is an after-manufacturing mounting tab. The door panel for your car was designed after the actual door was designed and it needed a new attaching point that was not originally available. That little metal strap was then put on the door so the new door panel would have a place to attach. Maybe a pull handle was added as an upgrade or the door panel was too loose in that area? It's made of leaveright!
It looks like there's a hole for a screw in that tab. Does that hole have screw thread marks in it?
It should be easy enough to check and see if what cjsdad says is true, and I'm guessing he is. Just put the door panel back on the door and see if one of the panel mounting-screw holes lines up with this hole.
I'm not sayin' that its not an assembly line modification but, it appears to be more like Uncle Bob's shade three door handle mount repair. Neither of the two mounting screws look like something that would come off an OEM assembly line. It would be interesting to see if there is one on the other door.
Neither of the two mounting screws look like something that would come off an OEM assembly line.
I noticed this, too. The two screws don't match each other, either, which you wouldn't expect from a factory installation. However, the lower mounting screw looks like it could be factory. Maybe the strip was removed at one time to service something inside the door, and one of the screws was lost and just replaced with anything on-hand that would fit. I can't tell you how many times I've done that.
It still looks like it could be a mounting point added later in an attempt to make the panel stay more securely fastened to the door. As I said, it would be interesting to know if any of the current door panel mounting holes lines up with it.
The more I look at it, the more I think that it's too amateur-looking to be a factory part but too professional-looking to be a shade-tree mechanic part. It's angle-cut at each end to better fit the location, which seems more than what a hobbyist would do. I wonder if it might have been added by a dealer early in the car's life after the customer complained that the door rattled or something like that, and it was done to tighten up the fit of the panel to the door.
It is a factory part to secure he pull strap to the door and make it safe otherwise there isn't any place to attach the mounting screw for the pull strap other than the door panel itself also the flat screw is correct the other one was probably replaced.
Fred beat me to it. The flat headed screw is the factory offering so it would not cause bumps in the front of the door panel. The round head screw may actually be factory installed as well. I don't see any scrapes or scratches around the screw on the strap. It is very much a factory part as I ran into plenty of those while I was a stereo installer back in the '80s. That little piece installed on the assembly line was a LOT cheaper than retooling for the entire door so the pull strap would have a place to attach.
October 13th, 2020, 12:34 PM
