Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a waiter or waitress who serves customers in their parked cars.

1923		Lincoln (NE) State Journal 22 June 9: (Classified ad) HELP WANTED – MALE Wanted – Soda fountain boy and car hop. Call L7400 after 6 p.m.
1937		Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, OH) 9/6: Drive-in sandwich stands are using star-bait to lure customers! [...] another car-hop said, ‘We have Eleanor Powell with us.’.
1949		R. Chandler Little Sister 82: The chipper, hard-eyed car-hops.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 163: Tens of thousands of pretty girls flock in to run Betty Grable back to St. Louis and end up as waitresses, salesgirls and car-hops.
1961		H. Ellison ‘Joy Ride’ in Deadly Streets (1983) 93: The kid [...] must have already ordered from the car-hop.
1975		J. Wambaugh Choirboys (1976) 182: He was content to sit at the drive-in [...] and joke with the carhops.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 92: Susan was my next inamorata: a car hop at Stan’s Drive-In.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 5: He used to ogle the carhops at Scrivener’s Drive-in.
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 38: They paid the carhop with three rolls of dimes when she brought the tray.
2011		Guardian 26 July 🌐 I was a carhop for three summers in my youth.
2018		T. Pluck ‘Hot Rod Heart’ in Life During Wartime 108: [S]he lost her carhop job at the Stewart’s.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 90: Swish carhops swarm him.

2. (also car hopper) a street prostitute (of either sex) who has sex in clients’ cars; also attrib.

1961		T.I. Rubin In the Life 73: I figured, what the hell, I’d try car-hops [...] you know, just one guy, just the driver. Go over, proposition him, then a quickie in the car.
1996		UGK ‘Fuck My car’ 🎵 Ay C keep yo’ eyes open for the boppers, car hoppers / Daisy Dukes out on the block, showin cock, traffic stoppers.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 122: The [magazines] Merch liked had names like Wink and Titter and featured smiling carhop types posing in leopardskin bikinis.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 38: Ex-call girl. Part-time carhop.