Movie tropes-Gunshot dismissed as Backfire.

Orionaut

Orionaut

Orionaut

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Don't know whether this should be in Media/TV, Motors or here really. :p

But

Even in current/near-current dramas (EG Elementary, that I have just been watching), In witness statements, Gunshots are still being dismissed as car back fires. :confused:

Really???

I have only experienced one back fire in my entire life (Back in the late 80's. Mind, it was a biggie and blew the back box off! :D)

I am in the motor business and apart from this one incident, I have never experienced myself or heard any others.

Why is this still (or even why ever) a drama thing?? It just doesn't happen in real life. (Or at least if it does it is Soooo rare that it is simply not relevant)

Do people actually still (or really did they Ever) say this when explaining why they didn't report sounds of gunshots in real life??
 
Haven't heard em so much in recent years - can only recall one in the last 10 years or so but back in the 80s it wasn't that uncommon - probably heard at least once a week or so living near some busy roads in town (a lot of them probably from the same 1-2 vehicles).

For some reason a lot of every day people seem reluctant to believe a gunshot is a gunshot until they've seen the gun themselves and try to say it is all kinds of things other than a gunshot not sure why.
 
Malt_Vinegar said:
Old cars can backfire. Its not uncommon, even today.
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Sorry, sort of dispute this.

My Business is old cars. Apart from this one personal incident I have never had a backfire (On either my or any customers cars). If I heard a sudden loud bang I really would think gunshot (Or some other explosive) rather than backfire. Even though I live in a posh part of SW Surrey!

I know backfires did happen back in the 1980's but they were rare. Today unheard of, really! (Except in TV drams apparently :p)

The idea that this scenario is still used in TV dramas is just puzzling.

The BIG problem with old cars wasn't back fire. It was spit back (Other end, different problem! :p ). That was nasty, much more common back in the days of carburettors, and could actually set the car on fire if you were unlucky! :eek:
 
Make loud pops n bangs out of ones rear end is par for the course with modified or performance cars. I have heard plenty over the years and yes i can see how some would think they are gun shot sounds and vice versa.
 
Orionaut said:
My Business is old cars. Apart from this one personal incident I have never had a backfire (On either my or any customers cars).
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I think the problem is a mixture of older car + poor maintenance/wringing the last possible bit of use out of them and possibly something related to the fuel back then.

I had a couple of neighbours as a kid in the early 80s who'd be running cars that these days would probably never get through an MOT who'd be backfiring quite frequently.
 
sideways14a said:
Make loud pops n bangs out of ones rear end is par for the course with modified or performance cars. I have heard plenty over the years and yes i can see how some would think they are gun shot sounds and vice versa.
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Yeah, OK. But then I guess that the places where people drive such cars are the same ones where gunfire is more likely! :p :D

In all seriousness, part of the problem is again downto the media. Real gunfire doesn't sound like the movies.

Guns don't go bang as such, they go crack (Or even pop)

And they are not to be confused with fireworks either.
 
A straight through exhaust with the right type of acoustic tuning could well sound like a "crack" from a distance.
My Mx5 sometimes pops on the downshift, it doesnt do it a lot but occasionally it will fire out a little puff of flame.
 
Rroff said:
I think the problem is a mixture of older car + poor maintenance/wringing the last possible bit of use out of them and possibly something related to the fuel back then.

I had a couple of neighbours as a kid in the early 80s who'd be running cars that these days would probably never get through an MOT who'd be backfiring quite frequently.
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MY cars, Customers or otherwise, would not backfire! :p

(Well, except for my embarrassing event. That was, I suspect, a corroded baffle so it was less of a backfire and more of a sudden explosive, and completely unpredictable, exhaust system obstruction, but yes it made one hell of a bang, right in the middle of the Thompson roundabout in Farnborough :p)

;) ;) :D
 
Hmmm, almost every visit to tesco at night there seems to be one boy racer giving it a good old back firing.

Maybe you are in just too posh an area Orionaut? (jk, plz no hate)
 
Why are you so bothered about the odd bit of exhaust rumble?
Its common place for performance cars nowadays to have sports maps and exhaust valve controls to provide a reinforced sound experience for its driver. My MX5 has the second cat removed and the rest of the system opened out to a modestly loud but nice sounding ...er sound. It does it a little but I didnt specifically go out of my way to make it do that.

Now if it was missfiring, popping and banging like a rally car then its a problem but a bit of acoustic fun is a nice addition to a performance car. Of course if it was some boring **** box crossover or some dreadful mile munching sleep inducing mass produced turd on wheels then no i dont think they really qualify.
 
Threepwood said:
Hmmm, almost every visit to tesco at night there seems to be one boy racer giving it a good old back firing.

Maybe you are in just too posh an area Orionaut? (jk, plz no hate)
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OK, I do not dismiss the idea that somebody could deliberately create a car that might backfire. but the idea that one might have normal cars that randomly generate backfires, even as a result of minor faults, is really no longer credible.

And really hasn't been for a very long time.
 
Well many current modern cars do this, a lot burble on the downshift in sports mode and a pot/bang is not far from a burble.
Any car with a sports exhaust that get hot tend to be able to do it as unburnt fuel reaches hot exhaust innards. That includes factory ones as well.

Of course if a car has an issue it is more likely to do it. For instance a boost leak on a MAF equipped car might do it if there is a boost leak and the ECU has added slightly too much fuel to the mixture due to reading s different air flow across its intake.
My old 200sx used to fart all the time, I once when to a local RR day with a few mates and another SX that was there was firing 2 foot flames on the overrun from its rear. Then again we regularly doubled the power output of these cars so its no surprise.
 
Drama and reality aren't necessarily related. What matters is what people at a decision-making level in the production of the drama think most of their target audience will want and expect and what suits the plot. Realism usually comes a very poor third if it's given any consideration at all.

Also, "backfire" in this context just means "a single short loud noise from a vehicle". I don't doubt that some people would initially assume any such noise came from a vehicle rather than a gun. I probably would. I've heard loud noises from cars. I haven't heard loud noises from guns.
 
At the risk of getting technical

Burble/Popping is not the same as a Backfire

it is a different process.

A Backfire is a major combustion fault. (and can cause, on occasion, a lot of damage)
 
sideways14a said:
Make loud pops n bangs out of ones rear end is par for the course with modified or performance cars. I have heard plenty over the years and yes i can see how some would think they are gun shot sounds and vice versa.
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Many years ago (before they were "popular"), I had a tuned Scoob with a BPM Twister exhaust (not really baffled much at all). It used to pop and bang so much on lift-off and downshift that it was ridiculous.

Orionaut said:
At the risk of getting technical

Burble/Popping is not the same as a Backfire

it is a different process.

A Backfire is a major combustion fault. (and can cause, on occasion, a lot of damage)
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All true but in the eyes (ears?) of the general public, aren't they all classed as "backfires"?
 
Angilion said:
Also, "backfire" in this context just means "a single short loud noise from a vehicle". I don't doubt that some people would initially assume any such noise came from a vehicle rather than a gun. I probably would. I've heard loud noises from cars. I haven't heard loud noises from guns.
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This is kind of my point.

IME "single short loud noise" seems much more likely to be gunfire than a malfunctioning motor vehicle.

(But Then I am of the "If" generation and anybody back them who went to boarding school basically grew up surrounded by guns of various sorts. So yes, perhaps I am being unfair to the wider world :( :/ )

60's 70's public schools would be considered unbelievable by many people today. Most of these establishments of my youth had armoires that were not far off that of a small Army base. Dozens of rifles, pistols, shotguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. I don't know what they are like today?
 
To be fair this has been the thinking for a long time now, it may well have started when cars really were unreliable/ had less fuel control and likely to blast out a bang or two when started up in the morning.
Prob not overly common for most "cooking model" cars these-days other than modified or sports stuff.
 
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