It’s a resistor for the heater fan low circuit
Does look like the fan resistor used to “calibrate” the coolant temp gauge. You wouldn’t need such a large one since the current in the circuit is very low compared to the heater fan circuit (where it can get pretty hot). Your gauge will read higher without it.
It seems to me that the fan resistor for the car heater is 3 ohms 10 watt iirc
The resistor gives you the low speed Just a guess 
The original poster found this resistor behind the drop down gauge panel according to the first post. The heater motor fan resistor is located on the casing of the heater box where it will get some cooling air flow. No way you want that resistor behind the gauge panel…
Maybe you don’t ….
.who knows what someone else did to the car lol 
Cheers