A CAR registration number issued to a pioneering Tavistock motorist more than 100 years ago is being put up for sale.

And the value of ‘T6’ may astonish the adventurous driver who first used it: it’s expected to make up to £180,000 at auction.

T6 was only the the third vehicle registration number ever issued in Devon.

It was assigned to a dark blue 10HP MMC, owned by Charles John Grundy Still, of Tavistock. The car was made by Coventry’s Motor Manufacturing Company.

Mr Still, who was born in Dorset in 1861 to a well-off family with JPs and military officers in the ranks, was a pioneer in other ways.

Married twice, he served as an officer in his local regiment, was a graduate of Caius College, Cambridge and, in 1894, decided to settle in the then young colony of New Zealand and try his hand at farming.

He died in Tavistock in 1944 at his home, Walreddon Manor, subsequently owned by film director Hugh Hudson. He was no stranger to the sort of money his number plate will make — he was able to leave £13,800 in his will, roughly equivalent to £358,000 today, according to the national Archives Currency Converter.

The ‘T’ series of vehicle registration numbers were issued by Devon Council, to comply with the new Motor Car Act which was due to take effect on January 1, 1904. Devon began issuing numbers on December 2, 1903, allocating odd numbers to motorcycles and even numbers to motor cars.

‘T6’ was transferred with Mr Still’s car to a Thomas Cowell of Honiton on March 16, 1908.

The number will be auctioned at the Bonhams Festival of Speed Sale, on June 24 in Chichester, West Sussex.

Toby Wilson, Bonhams Head of Automobilia, said: ‘This particular number is significant to Devon, as one of the very first numbers ever allocated in the county. Cars were still very precious and rare in the early 1900s, so the number would have had even more kudos, registered to one of the few cars on the road at the time.

Vehicle registration numbers can fetch vast sums at auction, most notably ‘S1’, which previously sold at Bonhams for £360,000, and ‘M1’, sold for £300,000.

 Further interesting numbers are offered at the Bonhams Festival of Speed Sale, including ‘SKY 1’, estimated at £50,000-70,000, ‘SLY 1’, estimated at £50,000-70,000, and ‘1 ETC’, estimated at £30,000-40,000.