Unfortunately, the original door handles were a very poor design, as they tended to break easily -- especially since the doors easily froze shut in northern climates and any sort of hard pull on the handle could easily break it off. Yes, I went through several handles on my '70 till I figured out it was wise to keep the contents of a can of Heat in a squeeze bottle in my trunk (which oddly seldom froze shut) and would squirt some around the driver's side door to get it to thaw out.