I want to tell you about a brilliant pen that I used in school, that looks quite nice and is an overall affordable choice for a mostly metal, near vintage, upgradeable pen. And this one has taken quite a journey.

Key Facts

This pen (now) is a “Parker Series 45 Flighter Deluxe No Tassie”. It came with a broad gold plated hooded steel nib and was upgraded to a 14k gold fine nib. The Parker 45 uses the proprietary Parker QUINK cartridge/converter family of refills and is fitted with a Parker deluxe converter. Check my Ink Capacity sheet for options and capacities – and read on to find out how this became what it is now.

My Story

When I was in 8th grade, my mother wanted to stop me chewing on my fountain pens – yes, we use fountain pens in school here. She thought that, after 2 or 3 LAMY Safari that I properly ate up, a metal pen would be appropriate. She wanted to do something nice for me and chose the Parker 45. At that age and in that situation, I was not able to appreciate it though and I still feel bad for mistreating it. It didn’t last long and was replaced by a silver LAMY AL-Star that I still have today.

Over 20 years later, having developed quite a passion for fountain pens, I wanted to revisit this pen and see if it deserved the treatment I gave it in school. Thanks to internet auction sites and some patience, in 2021 I gave myself another Parker 45 for Christmas. But it wasn’t quite that easy to get the one I had in school.

Putting the pieces back together

Parker made an incredible amount of pens over the years. The noble Parker 51, the affordable Vector … or the ubiquitous Jotter series are just the tip of the iceberg. I had no idea what model the pen was I had in school and while I remembered some very important features, I didn’t get anywhere using Google’s image search. I didn’t think of asking on reddit. By some lucky accident, I stumbled over parkerpens.net – a collection of information about older Parker pens, including a helpful page with hundreds of pictures to help identify them.

The 45 was introduced in 1960, the standard model having a plastic barrel, the slightly higher priced ‘Flighter’ models having a steel barrel. Some – the ‘Deluxe’ models – having gold plated features, the ’CT’ models having mostly chrome features. Parker came out with a Flighter Deluxe and CT roughly every 10 years and stopped selling the old models. Using that information I was able to find out that my pen must have been the Deluxe version ‘without tassie’. Mine didn’t have the small black plastic ball in the finial of the cap that the ’jewel’ version had and I clearly remember the end of the barrel not being decorated.

Parker made that model from 1980 to 2000 and knowing that my pen would be at least 22 years old kind of made me feel old, too. Sadly, though this pen was in production the longest of all the Flighters, I couldn’t find it on any auction sites I looked. I could find plenty of Flighters with gold tassie and the newer jewel models though – the first having the same cap as my school pen, the latter having the same barrel.

With a bit of luck and patience I was able to get hold of both, combining them into the pen I once had. It felt great to hold it again and I actually enjoyed the writing experience. When I installed a Parker QUINK standard blue cartridge to test the pen I was thrown back into memories of first using the pen back in school. After only having used LAMY T10 cartridges in blue until then, this was the first time I was using a different kind of blue. Ever since then I have been enjoying the slightly pale and shaded character of the Parker standard blue. It looks ‘different’ enough to be recognizable but ’standard’ enough to pass for a standard blue in school.

Going for gold

With the 45, Parker introduced a nib system they stuck with for over 40 years. It was aimed to enable easy and fast switching of nibs in the shop or even at home. The whole nib unit – which consists of the nib, the ink channel portion of the feed and the hood ring – can be easily screwed out of the pen to be exchanged. This even can be done cleanly while the pen is inked.
While developing this pen in the 1950s, Parker aimed to make this pen very versatile which was important for the targeted demographic. The P45 was designed as a lower cost pen for students, still looking for their perfect pen. While it was affordable, the option of sticking with the pen and just changing the nib unit when requiring another line width was innovative and useful. The new QUINK cartridge system made refilling the pen ’in the field’ a fast and clean affair, forgoing the need to carry an ink well or bottle. These innovations made this pen easy to use, service and upgrade. With the wide variety of styles available, these features made this pen easily approachable for students and adults alike.

All this led to many different kinds of nibs becoming available. While most P45 and P45 Flighters came with medium steel nibs, nothing prevented switching them for a 14k gold nib. From the release of the P45 in 1960 to its eventual end of production in 2007, all nib units remained compatible.
Because it still did feel like I betrayed the pen in my childhood (and because I am a sucker for gold nibs) I acquired another P45 from the USA that was fitted with a gold nib and swapped it. My newly acquired Flighter was made in the UK – part of it in the 70s, other parts in the 2000s. The new gold nib was made in the USA. All parts travelled a long way to end up in this configuration, making this a truly unique ‘Franken-Pen’.

How it writes

The original broad steel nib was a bit strange. It was marked as a ’fine’ on the underside of the hood, but had a stroke width wider than my LAMY Z50 B. Since the nibs themsevles are not marked except on the hood unit, I had to assume it was either a broken ‘fine’ or a ’broad’. Despite putting down a lot of ink, the P45 steel nibs are all very smooth. Since they are very very small and mostly fixed to the feed by the hood, they are not very springy and provide a very defined and direct feedback of the paper. While the gold nib is even less flexible than the steel variants, its finish provides a nice and smooth writing experience, even with the drier inks I have tried.

The grip section is smooth, round, cone shaped and long. Even though it does not provide a ridge to prevent the fingers from slipping onto the nib, it stays effortless in my fingers. People who grip the pen a little higher will appreciate the little spacer ring that bridges the little rise from grip section to barrel. It is slimmer but similar to the grip section of a LAMY studio.

Having used a plastic P45 and some of the Flighter models, I think that the Flighter’s metal barrel does plenty for the balance of the pen. I did not feel the need to post the Flighter while the Plastic one felt kind of flimsy.

Where to get it

The final model of the P45, the Flighter Deluxe Jewel, was discontinued in 2007. Auction sites are full of variants, often shipped from the UK or the USA, where these pens where popular when they came out. While gold nibs are hard to come by on their own, every now and then there are pens available already using one. Especially in the USA, where Parker was more of a mid range brand, many people went for the gold nib upgrade. I guess that’s why most used P45 with gold nibs today are located there.
A steel nib Flighter in good condition can be had for approx. 25 Euros total in 2022. A P45 with a gold nib and a missing clip might set you back 30 Euros. This makes the P45 an affordable and serviceable gold nib vintage pen, that is still fit for every day use.

While most Flighters came with gold plated nibs, all 14k gold nibs are stamped with the text ’14 K’ and have the typical reddish tone, so be sure to check for this mark before you buy a pen.

Wrap up

I got into the Parker 45 to pay my dues to a pen that I mistreated a long time ago, but I really like it. It’s a solid writer, it’s fun to handle and the fact that it is supposed to be a low cost pen rarely comes to mind when I pick it up.

I like this pen mostly because of how it writes and feels – and of course because of nostalgia. I do not like its looks that much though – it is a bit to fancy for my taste. It has a well deserved place in my collection though.

Pen Size

Length (capped, open, posted): 135.8 mm, 126.1 mm*, 143.0 mm*
Widest part without clip (capped, open): 11.7 mm, 11.7 mm
Width with clip: 13.3 mm
Dry weight (capped, open): TBD
*with F nib

Nib Data

Nib Type: Parker P45 F 14k USA
Nib Manufacturer: Parker

Ink Data

Inking System: cartridge/converter
Cartridge Type: proprietary Parker QUINK cartridges (full/half) or Parker QUINK converters

Availability

Special Edition: no
Still available: no, discontinued in 2000
Release: 1980
Acquired: 12/2021
MSRP: about 43 Euros in 2007