A door panel structure including a door panel and a door waist
reinforcement connected to the door panel. The door waist reinforcement
includes an inner reinforcement and an outer reinforcement. The door
panel and the door waist reinforcement have respective upper end portions
which form a waist flange to which a weather strip is fitted. The waist
flange includes a plurality of connecting portions at which the upper end
portion of the door panel and the upper end portion of the door waist
reinforcement are connected to each other, and at least one spaced
portion at which the upper end portion of the door panel and the upper
end portion of the door waist reinforcement are spaced from each other.