RAY: This puzzler was sent in to us by Bob Shea from cyberspace. It's quasi-automotive -- and quasi-historical.

Everyone knows that the panel on an airplane is called an instrument panel because it contains all of the flight instruments, which help the pilot and copilot know where their plane's going.

Well, a car also has instruments but it's not called an instrument panel. We call it --

TOM: A dashboard.

RAY: Exactly. My question, very simply, is, where does the term "dashboard" come from?

TOM: Because when you have an accident, your brains get dashed against the board?

RAY: Not quite.

Think you know?

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]