1985 Bitter SC 3.9

Don't get me wrong, I still love Lime Rock's Vintage Fall Festival (or Historic Festival as they call it now) and I will attend it each and every year until I am no longer capable of doing so, but it's becoming more and more of an upscale event. Years ago you would see Sunbeam Alpines, MGBs, Triumph Spitfires, Fiat Spiders, and tons of odd, weird, cars mixed in with collector's cars in the show. They're all but gone now and the show is almost exclusively collector's cars.

I love seeing the exotic cars, but I wish Lime Rock still included the less exotic stuff; the "car geek" cars. Still, there is a place at Lime Rock you can see some of those cars. It is the parking lot and I make sure I check it when I arrive and before I leave. People drive some amazing cars to this event. (Maybe some day we'll have "Car Geek Fest" or "CarGeekapalooza" somewhere... Acres of cars that most of the world, except for the car geeky few, care very little about... "Hey you, with the Ferrari Daytona... Too common, park it in the parking lot"... "Whoa! Is that a Fiat Strada? Park it on the track front and center, between the Rover 3500 and the Renault Le Car." But, I digress...)

It was in the parking lot, just after we arrived, that I saw one of these; a Bitter SC.

Erich Bitter was a professional cyclist (he competed in the Tour de France) before he turned to auto racing. He had a fairly successful 11 year career. After retiring from racing in 1969, he became the official German importer of Abarth and Intermeccanica.

It was his experience with Intermeccanica that convinced Bitter to build his own car. His goal was to build an exotic car, but base it on parts from a common, proven, reliable car. He wanted a car that "offered supercar aesthetics and interior opulence combined with everyday reliability". He chose GM's Opel brand to base his cars on.

The SC is based on the Opel Senator. Introduced in 1979, it lasted until 1989, but less than 500 were built (461 Coupes, 22 Convertibles and 5 Sedans.) Bitter succeeded in giving the car an exotic look, although it's very reminiscent of the Ferrari 400i. The 3.9 liter 6 manages to get the car to 60 MPH in under 8 seconds. At one point Bitter had a deal to sell the SC in the US through Isuzu dealers.

This Bitter is in very nice shape. Bitters are prone to rust (especially around the windshield), but this Bitter has little, if any rust. The interior, which can be fragile, is also in good condition. The seller says that engine runs strong and the transmission shifts smoothly.

The best part about the Bitter is the mechanical components. Opel parts are very durable. They're also easy to find (in Europe) and inexpensive.

Bitter's don't sell for a lot of money. Really nice ones usually sell for less than $15,000.00. There are few cars that offer both exclusivity and German engineering for that kind of money.

Located in Torrance, CA, click here to see the eBay listing.