Bitter Cars. Doesn’t sound much like a manufacturer, sounds more like a punchline to a joke long forgotten. But Erich Bitter Automobil GmbH exists (more or less) and really, isn’t so much a manufacturer as they are a coach builder of sorts. What you are looking at here is the SC, a rebodied Opel Senator that was made between 1981 and 1989. If you think that the side profile screams Ferrari, you’d be right…the body shape is almost a dead-ringer for the “Tipo 101” platform, which the 365 GT4 2+2, 400 and 412 were all built on. Only 461 coupes were built, period, and the ones that were sold Stateside all filtered out of New York Metro-area Buick dealerships that agreed to sell the SC. “Sell” is a loose term…in 1985 dollars, they were going for about $54,000, which puts them to near-as-no-difference $120,000 in today’s market. Would you pay that much for a car that was made from recycled Italian steel, that had been made with a window adhesive so acidic that it, too, aided rust even after Bitter changed where they got their sheetmetal from? We hope not.
This particular SC was a restoration project that never got off of the ground, and might still run and drive if you’re willing to go down to Texas and hook up a battery. The Opel-sourced 3.9L inline-six was good for 207 horsepower back in the day, which, honestly, is depressing. There’s rust around the windows, but overall, the SC isn’t in bad shape. We just think that it needs something more than just rust repair. A V8 swap? Of course, but for once, we aren’t advocating any American V8, even though Opel is Buick with a German accent. We’d hunt for an Audi 4.2…ever hear one of those little bastards uncorked? Back the 4.2 with a six-speed manual, make the SC look like a 1980s IMSA racer, flares and all, and have a blast. What do you think?
eBay Link: 1985 Bitter SC 3.9L
Before the blizzard of LS swaps appear there’s only one motor for this – a roaring J2Z!
Then uprate the brakes and suspension, give it a good polish and leave the rest as is for an ultimate and quite classy sleeper.
I remember seeing then at the NY autoshow in 1981 I even have the brochure still. I thought it was sharp then and I still do. To bad it was a piece of junk . 205 hp but it was 1981 so it kinda hauled ass.