Jalopy

"What a wreck! Forget about White Forest... we'll be lucky if we make it to the end of the block."

- Alyx Vance

The Jalopy is a vehicle cut from Half-Life 2: Episode Two. Very similar to Half-Life 2's Scout Car, it was replaced by the Muscle Car in the final game.

Overview



 * As seen in the Episode Two Gameplay Demos 3, 4 and 5 released September 2006, the Jalopy was a Volkswagen Beetle, stripped-down-and-rebuilt like the final car, but in a lesser condition. It also had double rear wheels, and a green tank as well as a white fridge covered by stickers, both stored the back. The driver's seat is covered in black leather, the passenger's is a green metallic one.


 * The Jalopy's texture file is still present in the Episode Two files, under the name "jalopyTempColor.vtf". A closer look at the file reveals details difficult or impossible to see in the gameplay demos: the front left mudguard, blue-colored, features the words "FIRST AID", with a cross beside it. The front right mudguard, beige-colored, features 5 black silhouettes of Zombies crossed out, probably showing the numbers of Zombies killed with the car so far, in the way of fighter aircrafts. The left running board is wooden, while the right one is metallic and blue-colored, again with two crossed out Zombie silhouettes on it. The green tank is also revealed to bear a "DANGER" sticker on top, and a fire extinguisher sticker on the left side. A sticker with the drawing of a black spider with red on its body coming down from its web into four dark purple flowers can also be found on the passenger seat (a probable reference to the spider Anansi), as well as an 8 ball at the end of the stick shift.


 * As said by Valve's David Speyrer, that name "Jalopy" says something about how uncool it was. Early feedback was that it seemed too similar to the Half-Life 2 Scout Car. The team decided to redesign it so that players would feel excited rather than disappointed when they saw the car. Alyx's original line when she first saw the Jalopy echoed the feelings of many early viewers: "What a wreck! Forget about White Forest... we'll be lucky if we make it to the end of the block.".

List of appearances

 * Half-Life 2: Episode Two