Does anyone know what it is? I've seen it numerous times watching the show. A metal strip runs along the top of the dash. Can for the life of me figure out what it is. Any help would be appreciated.

I always thought it was a defroster, but I could be wrong.

EDIT: Well, you induced me to search it, and Google turned this up:

"Feb 25 at 6:41 AM SeattleCurmudgeon

The wire fence is indeed an aftermarket device to keep stuff on the dash, Every cab in Paris had these things for decades until the mid- to late-80’s when dash designs changed. Probably not compatible with airbags unless you want to reinvent the guillotine."

http://bringatrailer.com/2013/02/24/parked-23-years-1959-peugeot-403/

Never would of thought of that!

Interesting, q-p-p - and all along I thought it was a cigar, pencil, notepad and match holder.

Thank you. I did google it a couple times but never came up with an answer. Must not have been using the correct words. I do appreciate your response. Been driving me a little crazy.

Thanks so much for the answer. My husband and I just watched the episode "Any Old Port in a Storm" last night and were discussing the metal band and what it could be.

Wow. Excellent. A great idea. I wish current car mfg would give us an area to hold items on the dashboard. The metal fence looks a bit dangerous though.

One answer is totally ludicrous about the metal fence being a defroster. Seriously? And someone else had stated that they wish car manufacturers would install something similar to keep stuff on the dashboard. Are these people brain dead? This is why we have center consoles with cup holders and containment areas for all sorts of crap. 😫

I had a 1986 Honda Prelude and the passenger side dashboard had a nice, flat 1" indented spot which was perfect for maps (back in the day), papers, pencils, whatever. I thought it was great. I'm not sure why this isn't / wasn't more common, but I'm guessing that in an accident, all of those objects become deadly projectiles.

I was in a nasty front-end collison once with a different vehicle and I remember coins flying around the car like we were under attack. Loose objects are not good during a collision. You ever notice how sterile they make an airplane cabin before landing?