Suffering sparkplugs, Batman! The Batmobile may be moving from Gotham City to Glasgow. The owner of many of the best-known screen automobiles is seeking to expand his museum business and is looking north for the extra parking he needs for a new multi-million pound display centre.

Peter Nelson’s Keswick-based Cars Of The Stars Museum has a unique collection of 60 vehicles, but is so full that forty of the cars in his collection can’t be permanently displayed. He is actively considering overspill sites for his vehicles in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee.

For millionaire businessman Nelson, it all started on the day in the 1980’s as he was driving his MGTC and was stopped by a Granada film crew. They wanted to hire the car for a Granada TV series "The Spoils Of War". A confirmed car enthusiast, but ever the astute businessman, that got him thinking. "That set me thinking about all the vehicles that appeared in films and TV shows and gave me the idea of setting up the museum," says Nelson.

When he managed to acquire the yellow three-wheeled Reliant van used by Del Boy in the first series of Only Fools and Horses for just £995 from the BBC, it became a nice little earner Rodney. The show was an instant success and when a second series was commissioned, the BBC had to hire it back — for £995.

Ratings went through the roof and a third series was made and naturally, followed up with a bill from Nelson for the hire of his nice little earner.

After Del Boy’s runabout was preserved for the nation, Peter Nelson acquired the Kitt car from Knight Rider, Mr Bean’s Mini, several of the James Bond Aston Martins, the Batmobile and his personal favourite, the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car.

Nelson explains: "Once I set up the museum and started buying cars, word spread quickly and the company that made the Flintstones film contacted me and asked if I would like the car for the museum. The Batmobile car cost £1million to build and although Ralph Lauren wanted to buy it, the film company let me have it for considerably less for the museum."

Eighteen Bondmobiles are in the collection ranging from the Lotus Esprit submarine to the Octopussy Tuk-Tuk taxi. TV cars include the A-team van, FAB 1 from Thunderbirds, the Saint’s Volvo, the Lotus Elan used in the Avengers and the Morris 8 from All Creatures Great and Small.

Nelson has set his sites on Scotland for his expansion and is actively looking at six different locations before making a final choice, which will actually be bigger than his Kerwick centre . "Two are in Edinburgh, two in Glasgow and the others are in Aberdeen and near Dundee," Nelson says of his new operation. "It will also have an educational unit and several car manufacturers including Volvo, BMW and Vauxhall will be assisting with this. I would hope to have the Scottish Cars Of The Stars Museum up and running by next season.

Once the second centre is operational Nelson plans to swap cars on exhibition between Keswick and Scotland so that as many as possible can be shown. "I will rotate the exhibitions between the Lake District and Scotland by moving them in a cavalcade convoy, probably led by the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car," says Nelson. "I got the idea because the Latvian government just hired five of the cars to lead a procession marking the 800^th anniversary of the founding of the state. They insisted on having Mr Bean’s Mini because the comedy series is so popular there. If the cars can travel to Latvia they can easily move between Kewick and Scotland."