Seabird from Clacton’s front ran into broken-down motor (9)
I believe the answer is:
cormorant
'seabird' is the definition.
(cormorant is a kind of seabird)
'clacton's front ran into broken-down motor' is the wordplay.
'front' suggests taking the first letters.
'into' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'broken down' is an anagram indicator.
The initial letter of 'clacton' is 'c'.
'motor' is an anagram of 'ormot'.
'ran' going inside 'ormot' is 'ormorant'.
'c'+'ormorant'='CORMORANT'
'from' is the link.
(Other definitions for cormorant that I've seen before include "Large, long-necked seabird" , "High-flier" , "Diving coastal bird" , "Proverbially gluttonous seabird" , "Glutton" .)