Tony,
Don't give up on passenger-side peep mirror based on my experience. Wait to see if anyone else has used one. There are a lot of advantages to peep mirros - they look good and they do not get knocked around.
The captive nuts on the driver's side are accessible from underneath the dash, if you are flexible. You should be able to tell from underneath the dash if the nut is still captive (someone might have to help you by turning the screw). It is quite possible that someone, over the years, has used the wrong size machine-screw and the nut(s) is/are stripped.
Good luck,
Tim
