ok taking door panel off my 72 cutlass got everything off finally got top of door panel off the sheet metal but it looks like the grab strap is holding it on. are there screws under the two silver tabs on the handle? don't want to pry on it if there isn't?

 

yes, there are screws under the decorative end pieces of the grab handle, not sure of the terminology, but I removed mine recently.

 

BTW, one of the screws on mine stripped the hole, now I'm trying to figure out how to fix that. Tried a bigger screw and it worked only a short time. I didn't want to take the panel off again but it looks like I will have to, and get the hole welded or try to get a nut on there somehow and put a bolt to it.

 

The holes are just formed in sheet metal. Unless they have been opened up too much (like, installing an oversize screw...) you can use a hammer and dolly to flatten the sheet metal and squeeze the hole back down to where the screw will grip again.

 

Thank you for the suggestion. I only did try a bigger screw because the hole was opened up so much. I'll try to re-size it back down as you said and use the (one size) bigger screw. I think I'll have to now that I had installed it once, but the original really wasn't holding. What I was thinking for a more permanent fix was a bolt and nut, obviously I need to find a way to attach the nut inside the door solidly first.