Friday, March 5, 2010

The Hooptie


This aging Pontiac which lives down Hallieford way still has charm, no? I think so. Look at that face, it's loaded with personality.


I have a very soft spot in my heart for old anything cars. My favorites are muscle cars from the '70s but some of these older model tanks everyday cars have appeal too.

Back in the late '80s and early '90s I worked in Washington, DC, and northern Virginia for a telecommunications company formerly known as MCI.

Chesapeake Bay Children? This was when people used calling cards to place long distance calls away from home, sometimes from the confines a claustrophobic contraption known as a phone booth. What about cell phones, you say? No such thing. Regrettably there *was* such a thing as puffy blouses, and even worse they were in vogue. Also, the dress code known as business casual had not been invented either, and a very young Chesapeake Bay College Graduate was *most* appalled at the fact that she had to wear a suit and PANTYHOSE with high heels to work every day.

You won't be may be shocked to know I've strayed from the topic.

Anyway, during that time frame someone I worked with was telling a very animated story, and about midstream she said, "Girl, you will never believe what happened next. She pulled right on up to the house in a hooptie."

Well I'd never heard that term before. Perhaps, like the wheel cell phones, it hadn't been fully invented or circulated yet. Or perhaps my sheltered upbringing in Mathews had something to do with it, who knows. Using the rest of the story as context, I deduced that a hooptie was just another term for old, beat-up (and sometimes jazzed-up) jalopies the size of small aircraft carriers.

Lest you think Chesapeake Bay Woman has finally gone off the deep end with her silly, made-up words or completely erroneous statements, you are correct she offers the following definitions provided by the urbandictionary.com:

hoop-d, hoopdie, hoopdy, HOOPTIE, hoop-t, hoopty, hooptee, etc.
Today it can be any car or vehicle used as personal transportation. But it was originally used to refer to classic 70's or 80's era large American cars (Impalas, New Yorkers, Towne Cars and so on...), usually found in the ghetto and in poor condition, that had been "pimped out" with garish paint, animal print interiors, wheels too large or too small and so on. They are often roomy, comfortable, worn out gas guzzlers.
Ex: The tail pipe fell off my hooptie.

or this:

hooptie
Any car that meets the following: a) driver must enter car through passenger side b) three different brand and size tires - three of them missing hubcap c) exhaust is held up by half a clothes hanger - other half replaces the antenna d) backfires every three blocks - loudest backfire being when car is turned off e) must open door at drive-thrus as windows don't roll down f) you only get one AM station and the tape deck eats all tapes inserted g) can't open the glove box as the whole thing will fall out h) if you let go of steering wheel while driving you'll make a u-turn i) must manually move blinker lever up and down as it no longer blinks on it's own j) must keep one foot on brake and one on accelerator when at a complete stop k) has had the same temporary registration sticker in the window for the last 18 months.

There are still quite a few hoopties alive and kicking in Mathews but most, like the car above, are planted permanently in a yard or the woods or even an old shed.

Do you have a story about a hooptie? How about pantyhose? Pontiacs? Hallieford?

Happy Friday!

p.s. This is a standing offer to anyone who owns a hooptie, a muscle car, an antique vehicle (including a tractor or boat), an older house or a scenic vista. In exchange for permission to legally trespass, I'll photograph your property and feature the photos on the blog (only if you wish) and/or give you copies of the shots. Be forewarned that if older vehicles are involved, I may want to keep drive them.

17 comments:

Ann Marie said...

dear heavens to betsy..we are thinking alike again... I was thinking of posting something in Best Value or Food Lion.. asking to trespass LOL..

And sweetheart.. how did you not know what a Hooptie was... oh that is right you are from THAT side of the tracks.... nevermind..

hehehehehe
<3 u... Re

Meg McCormick said...

My folks followed up our giant Pontiac station wagon with a giant Buick Electra Limited in the early 1970s. In a different context, it definitely would've been a hooptie. But for us, it was just a giant Amercan-made sedan with electric locks! and electric windows! and electric seat controls! And while it's likely that after it left the friendly confines of our farm, it did in fact achieve hooptie status, for us it was simply "Mommy's Magic Car."

My WF begins with milf. Thanks, Blogger!

Jamie said...

Back in the day a friend of mine had a boyfriend who had a hoopty. We double dated once and she and her boyfriend decided to see just how much room the trunk had... the cops showed up, try explaining where exactly the owner of the car is. And my daughter wonders why I watch her every move....

Mrs F with 4 said...

I LOVE old cars..... but we only ever had little ones in the UK - or certainly nothing as boat-like as the US. Probably something to do with both the price of gas and the width of the roads.

My first cars, back in 1986 when I passed my test (yes, I'm over 40) we both Citroens. A 2CV - rhubarb and custard paint - and then the ultimate car, a Citroen DS (pronounced 'day-esse'. Like 'goddess'.). I worshipped that car......

I'm going authorisedly trespassing in August, YAY!!!

Daryl said...

Back in the day when I was forced by PERSONNEL (back then they didnt call themselves HUMAN RESOURCES,which BTW I never did understand ... was there an IN or UN Human Resources .. this is sort of like whelmed... you can be under or over but no one is ever whelmed).. where was I? Oh. I had to wear a dress or skirt to work. Pants were not allowed. Pant suits being a very new fashion statement and not approved at all levels of employment ... and when they were, PERSONNEL advised this did not include DUNGAREES .. no one called them JEANS (unless of course they belonged to Jean).

Okay ..

Anyway, I now wear JEANS all the time .. all the time .. tho today I happen to be wearing a pair of cords .. .gotta change it up every so often ...

Oh . and I never ever ever ever ever wear panty hose ... not ever

WV: throwype ... seriously?

Trisha said...

I don't own a hooptie but I certainly have heard of the term. Does that mean I am old????

Diane said...

When TOG and I were first married, we had a hooptie... a 68 4 door Impala in "government green". What a smooth ride. A challenge to park, we named it the Tuna Boat. It seemed to go on forever.

Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades. said...

OK come on over and you can drive the 1960 dumptruck. We may have to charge the battery. We call her Ole Blue. But pantyhose be damned!
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Breezeway said...

My first car (for a month at least) was a '67 Nova. Army green. AM radio only, had to take my "boom box" with me to get any station worth listening to. LOL! I secretly loved that car, you could take ANYONE off the line, even if you looked like a grandma doing it! Then dad bought me a little Camaro and I had to give the Nova back to my great-aunt. Ha!

ghostless said...

Remember I am old! 61,,,so at first pantyhose meant freedom from the torture of garter belts...I know guys,,,don't go there! But they were so ugly in color that I refused to wear anything but black. It was the 60's not the 50's so they couldn't call me a beatnik, hippies didn't wear them, no "goth" in those days, so I was tagged as eccentric and it has stuck ever since!...don't think it had anything to do with the color of the panyhose though!

Mental P Mama said...

I always learn something over here! And the puffy blouses? Hello Laura Ashley! And remember when we had to call collect? Before the calling cards? I am dating myself!

Julie said...

We have one of those in our backyard. It's our 1977 Dodge Monaco that my hubby is restoring. We call it "Big Red" and it is a beast.

Unknown said...

In CA we called those big old cars "La Bamba"

Meg at the Members Lounge said...

No car story, but my friends and I flew pantyhose out a hotel window in Bermuda. Signal to cute British waiters that it was time to party!

Annie said...

My husband had an old farm desoto that his father let him use while he was at uni in the big city...while we were dating. Of course it didn't have a starter motor, so it had to be parked on a hill or incline for a rolling start! There were many memorable starting/parking moments in that car, not the least of was the tiny tiny incline at my parent's farm. There were a few nights my Dad had to be woken out of bed to pull it with the tractor. I used to beg fiancee to not turn it off when we got home...pleese...mind you, in those days home on the farm at that stage was a caravan...but we won't go into that here!

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Thank you all for your wonderfully amusing comments. Although I always love reading them no matter what the topic, this may be the best batch in a while.

Max Paganetti said...

I have the same feeling too when I see a classic car not taken care of. I really enjoyed reading your post. Thanks for the share. Have a wonderful upcoming holiday weekend.
Classic Body Worx