<VV> Door latch mechanism - broken return spring

[Charles McKinley]

Yesterday I disovered that the return spring for the left-hand door  
latch release mechanism on my '63 Monza is broken, so the inside door  
handle is "lazy", i.e. it assumes whatever position you leave it after  
opening or closing the door. I see by Clark's catalog that they offer  
a replacement for the coil spring, but with the caution that you have  
to do some welding or brazing to make the repair, and that seems like  
a lot of bother. I'd prefer to replace the entire mechanism, but they  
don't seem to offer that. A junkyard part would appear to be the  
answer, but I've already stripped the only junkyard Vair around here,  
and now that particular junkyard has closed its gates forever. Does  
anyone out there in VV-land have a parts car with one of those  
mechanisms I could buy from you? Alternatively, does anyone know of a  
clever work-around I could apply to the existing mechanism? It's in  
good shape except for the busted spring.

Thanks in advance,
Chuck McKinley
'63 Monza 900