This Rare Sports Car Wore Ferrari Style Over Opel Bones For Half The Cost

The Bitter SC is presented as a rare sports car that aimed to combine Ferrari-like Italian styling with German mechanical durability—at roughly half the cost of comparable exotics. Founded by Erich Bitter in 1973, Bitter Automobil built handcrafted vehicles using comparatively plain Opel underpinnings, targeting a mix of German engineering dependability and Italian design flair. The article traces Bitter’s background in racing and notes that by 1979 the company unveiled the Bitter SC, wrapping Ferrari-style looks around Opel-based hardware. It cites performance figures for the SC’s 3.0-liter inline-six—178 hp, 183 lb-ft, a 140 mph top speed, and 3,490 lbs—along with a new-price of $45,700.