MARK Trippier's new motor really stops traffic - not because it only has a top speed of 20mph, but it is the smallest car in the world.

Two-year-old daughter Hettie calls it daddy's wow wow car' because of the way it causes other motorists' jaws to drop.

It looks like it could be one of her toys.

But it is road legal, with tax and MOT.

Isle of Man firm Peel Engineering produced only 40 of the P50 microcars in the 1960s.

Today there are believed to be only ten roadworthy vehicles left in the UK.

Mark's car is even rarer as it is one of only two prototype models made by the company.

It was originally sold at Blackpool Tower during a motorbike show in 1963 and has changed hands only twice.

But rather than restore the car and keep it under wraps as a collector's item, the 30-year-old roofer uses it to drive to the shops near his home in Ramsbottom.

He has to get out and walk the car when faced with the steeper hills around town and once had to pull the three-wheeler home after running out of petrol.

But he still thinks the P50 is the perfect runaround - he does get 70 to 80 miles per gallon out of it.

"I might as well enjoy it," he said. "The bumps in the roads aren't good for the bodywork but I don't want to keep it like a museum piece.

"Most of the P50s have gone to museums abroad. I use it for what it was made for - popping to the shops for milk or cat food.

"It's pathetic how small it is but it's quite a nippy little thing, and it's not uncomfortable once you're inside."

The 59cc DKW engine is the size of a rugby ball, the tank holds a gallon of petrol, and the roof comes only as high as the bonnet on wife Ruth's 4X4. There is no reverse gear; to turn around the driver has to lift the car using a handle at the rear. But Mark has a bug for bug-like cars. He also owns a Mini Comtesse, a Messerschmitt and a Fiat Jolly among others.

He had been looking for a P50 for ten years.

"Ruth and Hettie think I'm silly," he said. "But I've had a bug for weird cars ever since I started driving.

"I like them because they're so ugly and funny. They're jokes on wheels."

The Peel P50 is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the smallest street legal car in the world.

It is 1.34m (4ft 5ins) long and 1.34m high, and weighs just 59kg (132lbs).