I'm wondering who's still making them. Anyone? If not, I wonder what it would take to get a run of them brought back to the market? Seems like there's a growing interest, and a dwindling supply.

Imagine this...a piston-filled short/long!

(Well...now that I've spent my smiley quota for the day...)

Kaweco?

Currently none of the Japanese brand is doing this. The trends seem to be bigger and bigger at the moment. I do have a short/long vintage by platinum which reminds me my very first FP given by my uncle.

Kevin

I can't see why people get so excited about them

Look at my Review

Nah, my short/long pen does not get me too excited. In my case, I still have the pen for sentimental reasons.

Kevin

that one is more like a medium/long

Sailor Charmer might be the closest to it, but it looks longer than vintage ones. For some reason I don't think this is not exactly what Ryan is looking for, either

I understand Platinum now makes one.

What? Platinum makes one?

Do tell...

The Platinum model number is/was PKP-5000F as of three years ago. It cost Y5250, tax included. Came with a 14K nib. there should still be some around.

When first made in the late 1960s they addressed several issues.
Some thoughts.

1. They were conveniently sized for a pants pocket or purse.
2. They were sized for a shirt pocket. Remember Japanese torsos were smaller then they are now and so were shirt pockets. A full size pen with clip might not always fit.
3. They were less prone to breakage.
4. They were economical to produce. Look at their pricing.
5. It provided makers an opportunity to move away from converters and sell more ink. It is impossible to find small squeeze converters for Platinum and Pilot pens.
6. Conceptually, they were different and remain an interesting design concept. Cool comes to mind!
7. Manufacturers could more easily cross-market product.

If anyone has more ideas, please share.

Any chance someone has photos?

This one has a different model number, but it looks the same or very similar to PKP-5000F in a book I have. It says it was a limited production model in the book and also on this site. The website says they used NOS parts found in a Platinum factory.

http://item.rakuten.co.jp/shinpuku/pkb2500/
http://item.rakuten.co.jp/shinpuku/pkb3000n/

This one is the vintage one, and the site says it has 22K nib.

http://simaisme.at.webry.info/200707/article_3.html

I can't find a model number on my Platinum to save my life, but it looks just like those.