I know the originals used a piece of aluminum that was mounted vertically and came up through the door. However, my car is painted and I really don't want to attempt that now. Are there any parts (donor or otherwise) that I could use to mount flush on the inner door panel?
Bill mine are mounted on the floor of the "glove box" openings in each door and are pulled upward so they are sort of hidden. They remind me of Mustang II pull handles and housings. They pull the latch with a small bicycle-like cable. Hope that gives you some ideas anyway.
Bill,
The DRB's here in Oz use a flush mounted handle set conveniently towards the front of the door, with a cable connection to the catch. There should be some generic handles of this type available from family sedans over there.