Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a small, sprung, two-wheeled carriage, a gig.

1806–7		J. Beresford Miseries of Human Life (1826) 96: Bidding a long adieu to Bedlam in the shape of an inn [...] and a travelling trap for a sitting room!
1848		Thackeray Vanity Fair III 294: There’s Dob’s trap – they are bringing it out of the court-yard.
1852		F.E. Smedley Lewis Arundel 343: Is this your trap? [...] what an awkward thing to get into.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 130/2: We found the hostler and got the ‘trap’ fixed, and off we drove for Marsh Lane.
1871		Hamilton Spectator (Vic.) 7 Jan. 1/7: If he possesses a vehicle, it is invariably a ‘trap,’ or ‘drag;’ and he no longer drives: he ‘tools it’.
1877		J. Diprose London Life 44: You’re the noisiest warmint I ever druv in this here fashionable trap.
1880		G.R. Sims Three Brass Balls 155: Neat traps stop at the doors on Sundays.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 88: Trap, a buggy or carriage.

2. (US) a dilapidated old car.

1939		J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath (1951) 123: We on’y stopped here ’cause this goddamn ol’ trap wouldn’t go no further.
1969		B. Beckham My Main Mother 132: Look at you! Driving an old raggedy-ass station wagon [...] Now, get this trap out of here!