jalopy

Sinking money into your jalopy has a higher payoff when a new or lightly used car is out of reach financially—maybe not at first, but increasingly so as old cars face wear and tear.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

You could patch up the car, which could make it an unreliable jalopy that breaks down — leading to you having to pour more money into fixing it.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026

But they’ll get there—in the same way a young car-shopper starts with a beat-up old jalopy, he argued, eventually they’ll walk onto the lot in middle age looking for a pricey new Cadillac.

From Slate ● May 25, 2025

After all, the whole reason I drive a jalopy manufactured during George W. Bush’s presidency is to have an easier time paying for food.

From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2023

As we approached our cabin, I knew no one was home because our Carcachita, our old jalopy, was not parked in front.

From "The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child" by Francisco Jiménez

If there are racecars, sports cars, and beat-up jalopies alike, are the cars born into their occupation?

From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026

No one today any longer wishes to hear jokes about nagging mothers-in-law, spendthrift wives or old jalopies, and the men and women who once told them to hardy plaudits are now forgotten.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025

It was a replica of the jalopies that passed through Kern County during the Dust Bowl.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 2, 2024

Over there was the junkyard where their father fixed up jalopies, and the sheds where the family raised pigs and cows and chickens.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 3, 2023

It had long been known that most accidents occurred with new cars, and that ancient jalopies were relatively safe even in the hands of juvenile delinquents.

From The Machine That Saved The World by Murray Leinster