clunker

clunker

1. A car that is in poor condition. I think it's time for me to get a new car—this one has turned out to be a real clunker.
2. Someone or something deemed to be insignificant or ineffectual. I had high hopes for the new employee, but he turned out to be a real clunker.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

clunker

1. n. an old car. He drives an old clunker and doesn’t have any insurance.
2. n. someone or something worthless; a clinker. We have to get the clunkers off the payroll.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • stop behind
  • stop behind (someone or something)
  • run over
  • pull up alongside (someone or something)
  • crate
  • to be sure
  • nudge out
  • understood
  • cracked up to be
  • reach speeds of
References in periodicals archive
Finally, and most importantly, the Abrams and Parsons methodology assumes that consumers gain surplus of 1/2 of the voucher's value (net of forfeited clunker value).
The welfare effects of temporary tax cuts and subsidies: theory, estimation, and applications
and ( aunt Fishy (June | John Goodman can't lift this Christmas clunker
CHRISTMAS WITH THE COOPERS (12A) [...]
President Obama was praised in 2009 when his administration enacted the "Cash for Clunkers" program, which was designed to encourage the public to turn in older cars in exchange for rebates toward the purchase of new, fuel-efficient cars.
Critics Say Obama's 'Cash For Clunkers' Program Hurt The Economy, Environment, But Not Everyone Is Buying It
(This was also a feature of the "Cash for Clunkers" program.)
My personal stimulus check
Here are the numbers on the federal Cash for Clunkers rebate program for cars.
Energy advisor
Greg Remensperger, executive vice president of the Oregon Automobile Dealers Association, vowed to challenge the attorney general's interpretation of the clunker law and urged member dealerships not to buckle under Kroger's pressure.
Dealers may owe on 'clunkers'
He added that the paperwork and conditions attached to the federal government's clunker program only helped fuel the Hate My Car campaign.
Your car old? Dented? Fuchsia? Just plain smelly? US Federal can help
They'll get the government Clunker voucher, Your Price, and Your Cash then, as the saying goes, laugh all the way to the bank.
Clunkers with cash
If Rent-a-Clunker's very first car actually was a clunker (which, by the way, is North American slang for a dilapidated vehicle), why wasn't I a speck on the horizon in a shiny sedan from Kurt's Rent-a-Car?
What's in a name?
SHE HAS NEVER released a clunker of an album since she burst on the scene with Seven Year Ache in 1981.
Cash delivers requiem for her father
I finally retired a clunker of a computer that ran on Windows 98.
Technology Q&A: add custom footers to spreadsheets ... Retrieve your Quick Launch Taskbar ... Cope with Windows XP folder amnesia ... Now you can print the contents of a folder
THIS YEAR, you might hear fewer of those radio jingles asking you to donate your old clunker to charity in exchange for a tax deduction.
Bye bye Clunker
Being forced to skate this clunker everyday, you're bummin'
Certified piece of suck: doo-doo skatepark construction
clunker. Despite scripts for such mega-hits as "American Graffiti" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz became virtually invisible after "Howard the Duck." The 1994 "Radioland Murders" was their last onscreen credit.
They've learned their lessons: studios go back to school to re-evaluate summer slips
Istel's studious deletion of the Meatloaf clunker Dance of the Vampires that opened and closed on Broadway this season was somewhat telling.
Hollow at best