Professional cyclist, racing driver, rally driver, businessman - Erich Bitter is a versatile personality and already a living legend in the automotive scene today. Opel presented the Coupé Diplomat (CD) 50 years ago, but it never went into series production. It was Erich Bitter who put this car on the road under his own name as the Bitter CD. Erich Bitter visited Glasurit in Münster at the beginning of September. The occasion was a color project by Glasurit and the Bitter Club International, which has now been successfully completed.
Restoring the original color tone using historical documents and car models
The project was divided into two parts: data collection and transfer to the color tone database. "Many colors that can be seen on a Bitter CD often come from other automobile companies. That's why our first step was to sift through the historical documents in which the color names and color numbers of the respective vehicles were documented," explains Andreas Hartel from the Passenger Car Process department at Glasurit, who was responsible for the data collection. In addition, color shades were already available in the Glasurit color database, but the car brand was unknown. With the documents, these colors could be assigned to the corresponding vehicle. In a few cases, there were also house colors. In order to decipher these, Thomas Ebert from Bitter Club International supplied original color samples so that the original color could be restored.
Once the data collection was complete, this information was transferred from the color laboratory to Glasurit's color database. The comparison between vehicles that still had first paint and the contemporary sales samples and color cards showed that the color tones did not always match. The decision as to which sample of each color should now be reproduced was made together with the Bitter Club experts. For over 90% of the 395 Bitter Coupé Diplomat cars produced, BASF's premium paint brand matched the historical colors and converted them into mixing formulas. The authentic colors are now also available in Glasurit's largest color database worldwide and can be called up quickly and easily if required. The few missing shades are currently being researched with the help of the Club.
Reproducing old colors with the latest technology
Martin Wilhelm, spokesman for the club chair of the Bitter Club International, already knew Glasurit as a reliable partner from his previous work as an expert for motor vehicles. Accordingly, the premium paint brand from BASF was chosen: "The care with which the project was carried out and the result show that we chose the right partner in Glasurit. The ability to reproduce old color tones with the latest technology was a perfect success." The first contact between Glasurit and the Bitter Club International, whose members include Erich Bitter, the founder of the Bitter brand, was established two years ago. The project was then fleshed out last year. "This collaboration is one of numerous successful projects with various automobile clubs and car manufacturers for which we have demonstrated our color expertise. With this work, we are expanding our color database and underlining our leading position in the field of authentic historic colors," explains Jürgen Book, Head of Classic Cars at Glasurit.
Preservation and distribution of technical information as a task
The Bitter Club International currently has 148 members from ten different countries, including Germany, the USA, Canada, Turkey, England, Belgium and France. The founder of Bitter Automobile, Erich Bitter, gave the club the task of maintaining, distributing and passing on technical information for the CD and SC models. The club also arranges spare parts and issues data confirmations for the Bitter CD and Bitter SC vehicles.
The Bitter CD sports coupé was the first vehicle of the Bitter brand; only 395 were produced between fall 1973 and the end of 1979. The basis for the approximately 1000 Bitter cars was formed by the Opel series models. In recent years, several Opel models have been converted with new Bitter brand design elements and can be recognized by the familiar trademark on the radiator grille, the "Bitter-B". The detailed results of the color research were presented by Glasurit to the Bitter Club International and Erich Bitter himself at the Glasurit Refinish Competence Center in Münster on September 5.
Here you will find further useful information about Glasurit and the Bitter Club International.
