The diminutive Peel P50, the world's smallest road-legal car, was the first in a series of experimental microcars built in the 1960s by Mr Cannell's fibreglass firm Peel Engineering Company.

Seventy P50s were produced between 1963 and 1964, but fewer than two dozen are thought to still exist including this one, bought by Peel's Manx Transport Heritage Museum after a public appeal in 2005.

Volunteers at the museum used to see Mr Cannell come in to gaze with pride at the three-wheeled wonder, advertised in its heyday as a city car capable of holding 'one adult and a shopping bag'.

In tribute to him, they lifted the 1.3-metre, 130lb car on to the patio of Peel Centenary Centre, where it was passed by his coffin leaving Peel Methodist Church on its way to Peel Cemetery.

Mr Cannell died in Noble's Hospital on October 19 at the age of 87. An intensely private person, he never married and spent most of his life living next to his workshop on West Quay, Peel.

He was born in Essex and grew up in London before joining the Royal Air Force in 1939 at the age of 18.

He served aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, assembling Hurricanes.

Mr Cannell later worked on Wellington Bombers for RAF Bomber Command. By the end of the war, he was serving in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

He moved to the Isle of Man and established the Peel Engineering Company in the early 1950s.

It began producing fibreglass boats and motorcycle fairings, including many bespoke designs for bikes competing in the TT Races.

Mr Cannell began experimenting with vehicle designs and produced a prototype microcar called the Peel Manxcar in 1955, although this never entered production.

But it was the inspiration for the Peel P50, which sold for £199 but is now worth up to £50,000.

This was followed by the two-seater Peel Trident, made in 1965-66, and prototypes of an alternative Mini called the Peel Viking Sport made in 1966-67.

Although the company stopped making cars in 1969, the models it produced remain the only cars to have been manufactured in the Isle of Man.

Sam Knight, of the Manx Transport Heritage Museum, revealed the inventor was working on designs for a monorail shortly before his death.

He imagined it could replace the former Isle of Man Railway Company line between Douglas and Peel that closed in 1968.

Mr Knight said: 'I don't think he realised how popular the P50 would become. It was not that sought after until a few years ago.

'Cyril's death is really the end of an era. He lived a long life, contributing to the war effort and to employment in Peel. There's quite a few around here who worked for the Peel Engineering Company.

'He used to pop in to the museum and was quite taken with our P50, so we thought it was suitable that it was there at the funeral.'

Mr Cannell is survived by his nephew John and nieces Inneen and Greeba.