jalopy

Unknown. Perhaps from Jalapa, Mexico, to whose scrap yards used cars were often sent from New Orleans starting in the 1920s. First recorded written use in 1924.[1][2]

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəˈlɒ.pi/

jalopy (plural jalopies)

1. (US, dated) An old, dilapidated or unpretentious automobile.

   Synonyms: banger, beater; see also Thesaurus:old car

   • 1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 1, in On the Road, Viking Press, OCLC 43419454:

     Dean is the perfect guy for the road because he was actually born on the road, when his parents were passing through Salt Lake City in 1926, in a jalopy, on their way to Los Angeles.

   • 2003, Terrance Dicks & Barry Letts, Deadly Reunion, chapter 22:

     There's only a rough track and I doubt if that jalopy of yours will make it.

2. (US, dated, slang) A hip, cool, groovy automobile.

• jalapeño (possibly)

• “jalopy”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “jalopy”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
• “jalopy”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “jalopy” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.