Burn jalopy around middle of December (7)
I believe the answer is:
cremate
'burn' is the definition.
(cremating is a kind of burning)
'jalopy around middle of december' is the wordplay.
'jalopy' becomes 'crate' (I've seen this before).
'around' is an insertion indicator.
'middle of' means to look at the middle letters.
The middle letters of 'december' are 'em'.
'crate' placed around 'em' is 'CREMATE'.
(Other definitions for cremate that I've seen before include "set alight" , "Destroy body by burning" , "Burn a body to ashes" , "Burn (a dead body)" , "Have a burn-up" .)