1965: World’s Smallest Car Built for World’s Smallest Man – Ireland’s Davy Jones | Season 5 – Episode 46
Wheels Jun 10, 2025
Height proved no barrier to the motoring ambitions of Davy Jones (1903 – 1970), who during his lifetime was recognised as the world’s smallest man, standing just 66 cm (2 feet 2 inches) tall. During the 1950s and 1960s, he became a familiar sight around the town of Lisburn, driving a series of specially commissioned miniature cars.
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THE IRISH TOM THUMB’
Robert David Alexander Jones, known locally as Davy, was born on April 28th 1903, at Millbrook Road, Lisburn, County Down. From early childhood, it was evident that his physical development was markedly different from that of other children. In the late 1920s, following the death of his parents, Davy sought to capitalise on his diminutive stature by pursuing a career in stage performance. According to Dr Jan Bondeson in The Lion Boy and Other Medical Curiosities he signed a contract with Bostock’s Menagerie, where he was promoted under the titles ‘The Irish Tom Thumb’ and ‘Bostock’s Man in Miniature’. The traveling exhibition toured across Ireland and Britain. He became a celebrated figure and appeared in movies in the United States. Reflecting on his life in the public eye, he once remarked, “If it wasn’t for my height, no one would bother to come and see me—and they would not have been around the world as I have.”
PONY & VAN
According to author Fred Kee, writing in his 1976 publication Lisburn Miscellany, before acquiring his series of custom-built motor cars, Davy Jones relied on more traditional means of transport—a pony and van and started a business delivering firewood and assisting a local milkman. He is said to have housed them in a stabling yard just off Castle Street in Lisburn. Local memory holds that he purchased this outfit following a significant windfall from the Irish Sweepstake. Soon enough he earned enough money from the business to be able to marry his normal-sized wife Jean, and they soon had a son named David William.
DAVY’S CUSTOM-BUILT CARS
While there was a succession of cars, owned by Davy not much is known about their manufacturer or technical details and only a few photographs survive of Davy motoring around the streets of Lisburn.
CUSTOM BUILT JAGUAR-CHEETAH CUB
Davy’s best-known car is his 1965 Jaguar-badged Cheetah-Cub that now forms part of the collection at the Ulster Transport Museum. Although not currently on public display, the Ireland Made – Stories of Irish Transport film crew had the rare opportunity last year to view the vehicle during a special open day at the museum’s Belfast storage facility.
Davy’s car is unusual not just because of its diminutive size, but also because of the collaboration between the Jaguar car company and Birmingham motorcycle sidecars manufacturer Watsonian in its construction.
In the 1960s Watsonian, produced a small range of children’s cars called the Cheetah-Cub. Two models were offered: one with bodywork inspired by the Jaguar D-Type, and the other, like the one owned by Davy Jones, modelled after the Lotus Elan. Both shared the same chassis and mechanical components, including a fibreglass body and a rear-mounted 75cc four-stroke engine. Davy’s Cheetah-Cub measured 121.9 cm in length, reached a top speed of 22.5 km/h and was custom-built for him in 1965 at a cost of £125 with a full-size Jaguar car at that time costing £1850.
TEST DRIVE MODIFICATIONS
Even though the car was custom built for Davy, after his initial test-drive as seen on the BBC report of the time, he discovered a few limitations and further modifications were required to bring the foot pedals closer, lengthen the handbrake lever and shorten the cord on the pull-up start.
ULSTER TRANSPORT MUSEUM STORES
Davy Jones the smallest motorist in Ireland and perhaps the world died on March 28th 1970, and was laid to rest in Lisburn Cemetery.
His Jaguar-Cheetah Cub is currently preserved in the stores section of the Ulster Transport Museum and when we had the opportunity to view the car up close, the quality of the 1960s craftsmanship was immediately apparent, including the leopard-print seats, a testament to the skill and attention to detail that went into its construction. However, we have no details if it will be placed on permanent public display.
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Sources of Information and Photo Credits:
BBC NI
Bonhams
Davy Jones Facebook page
Lisburn Memories
Lisburn Miscellany – Fred Kee
Old Lurgan Photos
OldClassicCar.com
On the shoulders of giants – the `Irish Tom Thumb’ – THE DIGGER Lisburn.com
The Lion Boy and Other Medical Curiosities – Dr Jan Bondeson
