Did an out and back to a popular weekly cruise in site.  On the way back after driving about 25 miles some at 70-75 mph I get off the exit and hear a loud grinding gravelly sound.  Pull into first parking lot I see and look under the car.  The right inner tie rod had come out of the drag link and was laying on the ground. Not broken.  Cotter pin, nut and boot gone. Tapered stud intact.  Ball and socket unbroken.  Amazingly I was able to slowly limp home about 3 more miles.

I had the guy who performed a post restoration safety inspection look at it (to make sure that I assembled everything properly) and he scratched his head saying he has never seen anything like it before.  He looked at the other side and thought that one may be doing the same thing.  Cotter pin is also missing but he thinks that a part of it is still in the hole.  I will be taking it back to his shop (only a block or so away) for a thorough look on the rack while operating the steering to see if he can determine what's going on.  He did say that the threads on the right inner looked funny.

I feel so fortunate that nothing serious happened..After telling my wife she thinks we should sell the car because it is not safe.  I will have to think about that. 

Anything like this happen to anyone else? Cheap parts the culprit?