1985 Bitter SC

• Privately designed and produced in small numbers (less than 500 total) 1979-1989 by Erich Bitter using the Opel Senator chassis as the basis for this grand tourer.
• Styling was reportedly based on his own drawings from the 1960's, but "refined for production" by Opel stylists Henry Haga and George Gallion as well as Italian stylist Michelotti with aerodynamic testing by Pininfarina. (Others might say that the styling was a blatant copy of Pininfarina's Ferrari 400/412i!)
• Initially body assembly was by OCRA (Turin Italy), but the bodies were inferior and rusted quickly and production was moved to another Turin company: Maggiore (who at the time were producing bodies for Maserati and Bristol).
• Interiors were all done in nappa leather by by SALT of Turin.
• Final assembly was initially done by Bitter's own staff (one car a week), but later was contracted to Steyr Daimler Puch (Mercedes G-Wagen, etc) in Austria.
• Drivetrain was initially a mostly stock Opel 3.0 inline six (180hp and 182 ft-lbs) but later made a Manzel-tuned 3.9 (210hp and 257 ft-lb) available as an option.
• Price in 1985 was $52,000 (Porsche 911 was $32k, 928S $50k, Ferrari 308 $54k)
• Bitter resumed limited product of a new model in 2004.