jalopy

Etymology

Unknown. Perhaps from Jalapa, Mexico (now Xalapa), to whose scrap yards used cars were often sent from New Orleans starting in the 1920s. First recorded written use in 1924.

noun

1. (US, dated) An old, dilapidated or unpretentious automobile.
   There's only a rough track and I doubt if that jalopy of yours will make it. 2003, Terrance Dicks, Barry Letts, chapter 22, in Deadly Reunion
   Through most of those early years of restless travel, he dragged his two children and his long-suffering wife, Maryann[…] behind him like tin cans tied to the bumper of a jalopy that no car dealer in his right mind would take in trade. 2009-11-20, Stephen King, “Raymond Carver’s Life and Stories”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
2. (US, dated, slang) A hip, cool, groovy automobile.