Lancia Prisma broken gear-linkage bracket and door handles

First the side to side rubber joint in the gear change died. While I was at specialized mouldings I got them to make me some door handles for the prisma. The last door handle is about to break, which would leave me having to climb in via the boot which wouldnt be very stylish. So I fix that part of the gear-linkage and two days later I loose all gears! After a terrible drive home in first gear I see that the whole metal bracket cracked! I would love to know how this happened, I was able to weld it back together no problem. If only this car could talk, Im sure it has lots of stories.