'98 Ford Contour electrical failure

Hi All,
The other night, I tried to start the car. The starter went "ruh..." and wouldn't crank any further. Also, all electric power seemed to be lost; no headlights, no radio, no dome light, nothing! I checked the battery terminals, and they were clean and tight, and the battery is only one year old with a good charge. I rapped the terminals lightly with a hammer, and tried the starter again. It started fine, and all power came back. I had to reset the radio presets and the clock.
That was a week ago, and there have been no problems since.
Any ideas what might have happened?

 

Sounds to me like you found the problem, battery contacts bad enough to cause failure, but not obvious. Remove and soak in baking soda, then clean thoroughtly with a knife, snadpaper, etc.