Werner Meynaerts, July 2023
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing away of Erich Bitter on July 10th, 2023. This is a great loss for the entire Bitter community but most of all for his family and friends. Our thoughts go out to them.
We were supposed to celebrate his 90th birthday during the upcoming Bitter Club Jahrestreffen in August. Instead of a celebration it will rather be a commemoration but I'm sure that Erich wouldn't want it to be a sad event. Let's remember and honor Erich with endless stories about the man who built our cars and who never stopped making plans and who was always available for a personal chat and inspiring stories.
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Werner Meynaerts, April 2023
After a software update at the hosting company, there have been technical problems with the website and registry for several months. I finally managed to find some time to fix those problems. Everything should work again now.
Spring officially started a few weeks ago but so far the weather hasn't really been good (in Belgium). Nevertheless I hope all cars and drivers are in good shape and will enjoy many rides.
From April 12 to April 16 the Bitter Club International will be present at the Techno Classica Essen and in August the BCI Jahrestreffen will be accompanied by the celebration of Erich Bitter's 90th birthday. There are also some smaller initiatives - cars & coffee style or organised road trips - where a bunch of Bitters wille come together.
Werner Meynaerts, June 2022
After two years of lock downs and cancellations due to the covid-19 pandemic, we all are extra enjoying every opportunity to get our precious cars out for a ride or to attend a meeting or exhibition.
The Bitter Club International was again present on the Techno Classica Essen in March and had a fantastic Jahrestreffen in The Netherlands in June with no less than 40 Bitters (CD, SC Coupé, SC Cabriolet, SC Sedan, Insignia, Vero).
Bitters are often seen at general classic car meetings and more specialized meetings like K.A.D. / ALT-OPEL.
But please, let's be careful wherever you are and whatever you do. Stay safe!
Werner Meynaerts, August 2018
The 31st annual meeting of the Bitter Club International, combined with Erich Bitter's 85th birthday celebration, took place August 17th-19th in Schwelm, Germany, the town were Erich Bitter was born in 1933.
In 2008 the organisation was aiming for 75 cars for the 75th birthday, in 2013 for 80 cars for the 80th birthday and this year obviously for 85 cars for the 85th birthday. The target may not have been reached completeley but it was close and I for sure have never seen so many Bitters and so many Bitter enthusiasts in one place.
I took about 700 photos and in the following week I spent 3 entire days to get them all organized and uploaded to the Registry.
On the below photo yours truly (left) is having a conversation with Erich Bitter (middle) and our friend Jay Harman (right) who came over from the US to join us.
It has been said before by other people but I would like to repeat it: How many car enthusiasts can actually say that they have spoken or even had dinner with the builder of their precious classic car?
Werner Meynaerts, May 2018
I think I can finally say that the Registry is fully operational now. In the past months a selected group of test users has helped me with comments, recommendations and suggestions. Most features are implemented already. Only the search engine needs some further optimization.
Approximately 40% of the 650 known cars are uploaded already. I'll continuously upload more cars when I have time.
Only people who own at least one Bitter and who have registered this car first, are entitled to get access to the Registry. To avoid fake registrations and spam I have not built an online registration form. Registration will be done via email instead. You can use the new Contact feature of the website to request access. You will then get a registration form that you have to complete and return. After evaluation and approval of the registration form you will receive your personal login information.
Although you need to supply full personal coordinates and a detailed description of the car(s) for successful registration, no personal information will be listed in the Registry. Only the country and hometown of the car(s) are listed.
Werner Meynaerts, January 2018
In my previous post I wrote that I was hoping to find some time to continue working on the website during the Christmas holidays. Well, I did, but a year later than expected.
In the past weeks I have worked very hard to rebuild the Articles, Events, Links and For Sale sections. I'm really happy that I can finally put those online again at the start of this new year.
I'm also making good progress rebuilding the Registry but it will take a few more days or even weeks to complete. In the past years I have collected a huge amount of previously unpublished information and pictures that needs to be processed and uploaded first.
Werner Meynaerts, December 2016
After more than two years I finally continued working on the website. The static pages are more or less ready now. I have added lots of new pictures and content and even some new pages about the Bitters and their donor cars from GM and Opel.
The most difficult parts, however, are yet to come, i.e. the Registry, For Sale, Articles. I hope I will find some time during the Christmas holidays.
Werner Meynaerts, April 2014
About a year ago I announced that the server that hosted the www.bittercars.com website since January 2000 was going to be decommissioned. This effectively happened in September 2013. So I had to find a new home for the website. But as the website was built with technology that is not common anymore these days, that would be easier said than done. The only alternative would be to rebuild the entire website in another more common technology. And that of course takes time. A lot of time. Something I didn't and still don't have.
But now I finally started working on the website again. The framework for the static pages is ready but many pages will still show "under construction". But then I have to build the databases for the Registry and For Sale with security and a registration mechanism of course. And that's a different kettle of fish. So there's still a long way to go.
The new Forum that already was hosted on another server and that already was built with more common technology, has been running for about a year now. Unfortunately I can't say that it is a great success. I get thousands of fake registration requests from spammers but only a few real people actually contribute. Some people even have commented that there was more activity on the old Forum than on the new Forum. Maybe you're all too busy with Facebook and other social media.
Werner Meynaerts, April 2013
Today is an important day for the www.bittercars.com website, especially for all of you who have been missing the Forum. Indeed, as from today the Forum is back on-line. It is a completely new forum built with widely spread technology so some of you will recognize many powerful features from other fora you may have visited already.
The most important change is probably the fact that you have to register if you want to participate. This registration is absolutely necessary to avoid the problems we had in the old forum with spam messages for jewelry, handbags and medication. Without registering or logging in you can, however, still browse the forum.
Don't let this registration scare you off. It takes less than a minute and you have to supply only little information. But if you do, the whole world lies at your feet.
You will have to explore all the features of the new forum yourself but don't hesitate to ask help from me or other (sometimes even more advanced) forum users. There are details and recommendations about the registration and the customization of your forum profile in a dedicated Forum & Website Support section.
The forum is now available in different languages. From this website's Forum page you can directly open the forum in your preferred language. You can also switch languages in the forum itself and/or select your preferred language in your forum profile.
The content, however, will always be in the respective author's language. Everybody is free to use the language that suits him/her best in all sections of this forum.
So click the Forum button in the main menu, select your preferred language, register and go ahead.
Werner Meynaerts - March 2013
Still not enough time to continue working on the website. I'm really sorry folks. But today I absolutely wanted to make some time to activate the For Sale section again. Or at least part of it.
The reason is an advertisement for a so far unknown Bitter CD in Miami, Florida. Check out the Bring A Trailer link in the For Sale page. Thanks, Jay, for sending me the link. The fact that this is only the fifth Bitter CD we have discovered in the US is of course special but the main reason is the comments that have been posted with the ad. Those comments give a good idea how people across the ocean think about our beloved cars and how little people know about them. Thanks, Tim, for trying to change that.
On eBay the car is advertised as VIN 526-316 so I assume that has to be 5250316. It would be interesting to know how that car got there and how it ended up in such a sad condition.
Werner Meynaerts - December 2012
I guess you all know the saying "Time flies when you're having fun". Well, I'm not so sure about the fun but the time indeed flies.
It is 3 years ago already that I decided to start working on a new version of the website. This new version should have a more modern look, no more framesets, new features for the forum, e.g. the possibility to have a private conversation, be multilingual (at least English and German), maybe have a section to buy/sell parts, etc. I even wrote an editorial already, assuming that I was going to finish that new version soon and put it online with the presentation of the Vero. But that never happened and as per today it still isn't finished.
Nevertheless I decided to put the (unfinished) new version of the website online now. In the past few months the Forum has constantly been spammed by advertisements so I was planning to shut down the Forum anyway. The new version will need some registration mechanism. I'm not sure when everything will be operational but maybe this situation will encourage me to continue working on it.
Werner Meynaerts - August 2009
I saw pictures of a Bitter for the first time in the early eighties. I believe it was an article about the Bitter SC in a Road & Track magazine.
As many people still do, I confused it with a Maserati. Now of course I wonder what Maserati model I could have had in mind because there isn't really a Maserati that looks like the Bitter SC. Or is there?
What really caught my attention was the 1984 black & white picture of the Bitter SC on the beach. This picture was burned on my eyes for more than 15 years. In those 15 years I saw a Bitter SC only twice on the road.
You can imagine how surprised I was when I saw a Bitter SC advertised for sale at only 50 kms from my place in July 1999. I went to have a look at it and bought it immediately. You would think that this was a dream that came true but it wasn't. I never even dreamt that I would ever be able to buy one of those cars. When my wife asked me if this car could be driven, I answered "If I can't drive it, I can at least look at it."
In those days I already had an internet connection at home so I started surfing the internet for information about Bitter. What a disappointment. An article about the Type3 sedan, a few pages from Richard Iglar about his SC Coupé and a single page from the Bitter Owners Club in the UK.
I got in touch with Mr. Griffith of the Bitter Owners Club soon. We had a nice chat about the cars, the clubs and the book he wrote. I immediately joined the club and ordered a copy of his book. When I saw the red CD on the cover I promised myself that I would own one of those before the end of the year. And indeed in December 1999 I bought a CD.
As I was professionally working with internet technology and websites already I decided to build a website dedicated to Bitter. I asked the Bitter Owners Club in the UK and the Bitter Club International in Germany for their support and approval. The first version of this website was launched on January 25, 2000.
I soon found out that more people were surfing the internet for information about Bitter. And now at least they found something. I got to know a lot of people in the following months, most of them from the US, the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium. Even though Germany has probably the widest Bitter owners community, only few Germans found their way to the website. Today this hasn't changed. The language is obviously the main reason for this.
In May 2000 I went to the Bitter Club International Jahrestreffen in Velen. I can not describe how I felt when we arrived and found about 20 Bitters parked on the center court of the hotel. The majority was of course German but there was also a small delegation from the UK. Mr. Griffith from the BOC introduced me to Erich Bitter. We briefly discussed the website and some other topics.
In my humble opinion this website has been an important factor in the revival of the interest in the Bitter brand. There were surely more people who, just like me, were looking for information or spare parts but didn't know that there were two clubs or who had never been in touch with other Bitter owners before. If I have been able to help those people I think my mission succeeded.
As I am continuously trying to keep this website alive and with the presentation of the new Bitter Vero I thought this was a good time to refresh the entire website a little bit. Actually it was a major redesign and it took much more time than I had foreseen.
