The Opel Association of North America
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The Opel Association of North America The Official Newsletter of the OANA Vol.8 No. 2 – Mar/Apr 2000 The History of the Opel Bitter OANA CLUB INFORMATION The Opel Association of North America has been in existence as a local club since 1985. From 1994 to 1996 the club saw many transformations, and the O.A.N.A. settled into its current form in 1996. Our purpose now is to provide a source for locating parts, service, tech-help and various forums to exchange information between owners of all Opel models from the 1957 Olympia to any gray market imports that are in North America. We do, however, place a special emphasis on the Opel GT, Manta and Kadett models. Our ultimate goal is to keep the Opel marquee a presence in North America, improve the collectability of all Opels in North America, and most of all, to have fun doing it. The North American Bitter Registry was formed for essentially the same reasons as The Opel Association. A very small number of Bitters (our sister make) SC coupes were imported into the U.S. With the non-existence of any club to help the owners of these rare and exotic cars, it was determined that our club would be the right place to give assistance and help these owners have a place to get connected. · Club membership dues: Net-Only Membership (Members do not get a mailed newsletter; they download it from the net) is $20 for 2 years. Business members are $100 a year (includes business card in newsletter and banner on front page of web site), $50 per ad page per issue. · Mail all membership dues, merchandise orders and advertising to: The Opel Association of North America - 394 Mystic Lane - Wirtz, VA 24184 Our web site and links to our chapter’s web sites: http://www.opel-na.com Site Login: oana PW: 60rekord Join the Opel mailing list : Go to http://www.egroups.com/group/classicopels/info.html to join the North American Classic Opel mailing list OANA CHAPTER INFORMATION Mid-Atlantic Opel Association New England Opel Club Rocky Mountain Opels Texas Opel Club (VA,DE,MD,NC,WV,PA,OH,KY,DC) (MA,CT,NH,RI,VT,ME,NY,NJ) (AZ, CO, MT, NM, UT, WY) ( TX, AR, LA) Elwood Morgan – President Gary Farias - President Branston DiBrell - President Rodney Killingsworth –President 10803 Mockingbird Lane 24 Columbia Rd. 5245 Wainwright Dr. FM 896 Rt, 2 Box 120 Spotsylvania, VA 22553-7764 Swansea, MA 02777 Security, CO 80911 Leonard, TX 75452 Phone -540-582-6015 Phone - 1-(508)-679-2740 Phone - 1-(719)-391-9421 Phone - 1-(903)-587-9640 Email – [email protected] Email - [email protected] Email - [email protected] Email- [email protected] Southern Great Lakes / Mid-West Pacific Northwest Central OK Opel Club (AL, FL, GA, MS, SC, TN) (IL, IN, MI, OH, WS, IA, ND, SD, NB) (ID, OR, WA and AK) (OK, MO, KS) Ken Litke – President Bill Hoffman - President Ed Thomas - President Robert Lee – President Phone - 1-803-279-5796 30725 114th St. 1233 Firpack Dr. SE Phone – 1-(405)-288-6288. Email - [email protected] Wilmot, WI 53192-0457 Lacey, WA 98503 Email - Email - [email protected] Phone - 1-(360)-491-0865 [email protected] Email - [email protected] Bitter SC Registry: Richard Anderson - President | 26 Brandywine | South Barrington, IL | 60010 | Phone 1-(847)-836-5006 Opel GT Source Opel Parts & Service, Inc. New, Reproduction, Used & Performance Parts for the Opel GT, Manta/1900 A and Kadett B Order Desk: 1-800-OpelGTS Open Mon-Fri Info: 1-209-928-1110 8am - 5pm PST Fax: 1-209-928-3298 12am - 8pm EST Specializing in New, Used and N.O.S. Parts Shop us on the Web: http://www.opelgtsource.com/opel/ Email: [email protected] For all Opels from the 1950s’ to 1975 Mailing address : P.O. Box 4004, Sonora, CA 95370 Monday - Friday UPS Shipping : 18211 Zeni Ln., Tuolumne, CA 95379 3961 S. Military Hwy. 11am - 4pm We accept: VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover Chesapeake, VA 23321 1-(757)-487-3581 Direct Importer - Same Day Shipping UPCOMING EVENTS Carlisle Import/Kit Car Show Carlisle, Pa May 19-21, 2000 Opels on the Lawn 4th Annual Brookline, MA June 11, 2000 OMC 20th Anniversary Picnic & Show Huntington Beach, CA August 11-13, 200 OANA TREASURER’S REPORT – 6 FEB 00 – 15 MAR 00 Receipts: Expenses: Totals Balance brought forward: $ 610.61 Reserve Fund (Carryover): $ 900.00 Advanced Web Creations: $ 74.85 Dues (Regular): $ 205.00 Total receipts: $ 245.00 U.S. Postal Service: $ 38.50 Dues (Net-Only): $ 40.00 Total Expenses: $ (279.85) Supply Room Company $166.50 Loan to Charles: $ (250.00) Reserve Fund (New): $ 840.00 Total receipts: $ 245.00 Total Expenses: $ (279.85) Balance: $ 635.76 New Members Renewals Leonard Porter Brenda Storch Thomas Cavataio Tim Smith (Net only) John Keller Thomas Hoffmann (Net only) Caroline Brumleve John Puccella Jr. This report covers only a short period of time. During this period nothing significant has occurred as far as our finances are concerned. Respectfully submitted, Erik Larsen - OANA Treasurer BITTER By Werner Meynaerts Erich Bitter Erich Bitter was born in 1933 at schwelm, 30 miles east of Dusseldorf in central western Germany. Young Erich spent his childhood years with his parents who owned and ran a bicycle shop in Schwelm. A cycle racing career was a natural progression, be he had the talent and during his four years as a professional competed in the Tour de France and rose to become one of the top German riders. At 18 he passed his driving test, and at 25 started to enter some competitive events. “At first everybody passed me” recalled Bitter, but it wasn’t long before he started winning in an NSU. During his eleven year racing career from 1958 to 1969 he raced Porsches, Ferraris and Mercedes 300 SL’s, amongst others, before being offered a works drive for Abarth. In late 1968 Opel invited Bitter to drive a new Rekord with 150 bhp under the bonnet. Dressed in black and understatedly named “The Taxi”, the saloon was more than a match for higher group Porsches and Camaros with Bitter setting the fastest lap in its class. Those races in the Rekord forged links with GM’s German management, links that would prove to be valuable in the years ahead. In the second half of the sixties Bitter was appointed the official German importer of Abarths. This followed with the German concession for the small, up-market, sporting Italian marquee of Intermeccanica. The Intermeccanicas were so poorly built the Bitter almost went broke trying to keep his customers mobile. The short, sour and expensive relationship with Intermeccanica was the spur that encouraged Erich Bitter into building a car of his own to German standards of quality and reliability. But he had learned something from his dealings with the Italian company. “They had the right idea, the car was a beautiful design and a top price. The market was small but the potential profits were very attractive. I believed that the potential was there and given the right conditions and a more rigid control of production, hand built bodywork and mass produced mechanical components can be a feasible basis for a car.” Bitter had equally firm ideas about using proven Opel mechanical components. He believed that an Opel floorplan and running gear was one of his car’s strongest selling points. Few top-of-the market alternatives offered supercar aesthetics and interior opulence combined with everyday reliability, argued Bitter. Erich bitter made the decision to approach Opel at Russelheim, and has never regretted it. He built 390 CD’s and 450 SC’s on proven Russelheim platforms and running gear between 1973 and 1986. Between 1987 and 1997 he produced several prototypes (see “Other Projects”) but could not raise sufficient finance to put them into production. His company ceased trading in 1997, but Erich still works in car design and engineering for a sub contractor in Germany. Opel’s Role Under the new, inspired leadership of American Bob Lutz, Opel’s stylists wanted to demonstrate their talents at the 1969 Frankfourt Show with a dream car they could build on the chassis of the recently introduced diplomat. They used their top-of-the-range model because it had advanced suspension – independent front and De Dion read – and it could take Chevrolet’s V8 powerplant. The coupe, project name Astra, but called the Styling CD, was a stunning, refreshing offering greeted with great enthusiasm. Opel’s styling team was headed by Chuck Jordan. The sensational response to the car led Opel’s management to consider making a sporting coupe. They had already developed a shortened diplomat chassis for the Styling CD, but decided that the cost of producing such a car would be too high. It would have had to have been produced in sufficient numbers to justify the tooling cost, yet remain exclusive enough to camouflage what was sure to be an inflated price. The car would also have to live with an Opel badge. In 1970 the Italian styling company, Frua, designed and built their own updated, more practical version of the Styling CD for the 1970 Frankfurt show. Frua’s design retained the monocoque shape and the character of Chuck Jordan’s car, but was fitted with conventional doors. The Frua CD was a handsome, masculine couple, but like his predecessor, did not make it to production. In 1971 Dave Holls replaced Chuck Jordan as Opel’s styling chief and he, like many other top Opel executives, regularly used the car.