Sunday 13th November - A good start, but a bad finish!

 A very misty Sunday morning saw me heading to Harlow to meet Dave Maton. We were going to attend the North Weald breakfast meet. Neither of us had been to this before, so we didn't know what to expect. Judging by the large queues to get in, there were obviously a lot of people attending as well. Dave was in his Triumph Mk1 and I was in my Zetec Cortina. We finally got in and started making our way around the vast amounts of cars there. 

There was plenty of variety there, but too much modern stuff for my liking. I did manage to find another 2 door Mk1 Cortina though. One that I'd not seen before either. It was fitted with a Cosworth Turbo engine, so was no doubt a seriously quick car. 

By about 12pm Dave and I had seen enough, and both had other things to do, so we made tracks. I had a good fast drive home, but then with about 200 yards before I reached home, I lost my steering for about 2 seconds and then heard a loud bang and lost control of the car which forced me up the kerb. 

A quick investigation under the car revealed that my bottom ball joint had sheared off and separated from the suspension leg. The wheel had also pushed itself into the front wing bending it out and damaging the paint. 

My next problem was how to get the car home. While I was trying to figure out what to do, Pete, a guy that I know from the Brookside pub was just arriving home with three of his mates (and shit loads of beer) ready to have a beer and footie afternoon. After a brief conversation with them (One of them was a mechanic) we got to work with my large trolley jack and some ratchet straps. Between us all we managed to push the car down the street and even up onto my driveway. What a brilliant bunch of blokes! I need to buy Pete some beers next time I'm in the Brookside. 

Once home the car was stabilised on axle stands and the offending item removed for investigation. The bottom ball joint had indeed sheared. I know there's damage to the car and it's a pain having to carry out repairs, but 15 minutes before this happened, I'd been on the A130 travelling at 70mph, so I would say I've been a very lucky man! It could have been a lot worse!