Shaeffer Targa

[handlebar]

Of the few Shaeffers i have ,one that is among my favorites is a stainless Targa. I don't remember which year this was released but i know it was during my tenure working at a JK Gill office supply store in the late 80's.The pen was marked down to almost nothing and i picked it up. I used it for a year or so and then packed it away. I had forgotten about it till last year and started to use it again.

I don;t remember what i paid for it. Couldn't have been much as i was quite a poor fella then. Still am!!

 

How would you rate the Targa?? What was their price range then (1986 to 89)??

 

Thanks,

 

Handlebar

P.S.-In the photo ,my pen is #6.

[randyholhut]

I traded for a stainless Targa FP/MP/BP/RB set. I had lots of Sheaffer's over the years but never really thought much about the Targa until this particular set popped up on the Green Board.

 

It's a really simple pen, probably the most austere pen Sheaffer has ever made. Although it was a 1970s design, it doesn't scream "tacky" like other products of the period. Targas are decent writers and they have enough different finishes to keep a collector interested.

 

If you love the tapered Balance design that Sheaffer pretty much stuck to from the 1930s through the 1950s, you probably don't like the Targa. If you're a PFM fan, you probably don't like the Targa. While Sheaffer has done revivals of both the Balance and the PFM (aka Legacy), I doubt we'll see a reissue of the Targa.

 

As others have pointed out, this design wasn't much to look at, but it kept the fountain pen alive at Sheaffer in the 1970s and 1980s. For that reason, the Targa would rate as a important pen in Sheaffer's history.

[PenHero]

It's a common misperception that the Brushed Chrome Targa is stainless steel. It's actually chrome plated brass.

[handlebar]

Thanks for the info Jim. Still,even for such a low grade coating,it is a rather nice pen. Stainless would have been better in the long run. I usually don't like the plated or shinier surfaces as they just slip too much in my hands.But this particular Shaeffer does not. Maybe because of the "brushed" aspect.

 

 

Handlebar

(Jim)

Edited December 26, 2005 by handlebar

[mrith]

My wife and I got married in 12-24-92, and her gift to me was a Targa fountain pen and ballpoint set. It looks a little like the 4th one, where a black coating was etched through in a pattern to the brass underneath. I love it, but it was not cheap. I think 100-200 dollars new at that time, together. But it was also purchased from B Colinton in Chicago, which in retrospect, wasn't exactly a bargain store. For our first anniversary I spent about 20 bucks on a steel Targa ballpoint for her, etched with the anniversary date. It is permanently placed in her filofax.

I think the nib design and flow are mighty smooth--my awful handwriting looks its best.

Humbly yours, Gary, of Gary and Maude

[dava]

You have chosen wisely pilgrim. The Targa is one of my favorite pens because it was the first good pen I purchased. As to the Stainless version, about a dozen reside in my pencups and each wears a different nib. Did I mention the calligraphy set in the big grey box? If I have any sort of a memory left (not likely) I would hazard a guess that the Stainless version Model 1001 sold for $20 back then with stainless nib. Did I mention the other versions?

 

Now to the real query. I was attracted to your post by your "handle" which only a bewhiskered fellow would choose. I also am enamored of the whisker and wax fashion but mine isn't so long as yours anymore--I just cut 2" off over the weekend! That is a far cry from the shoulder wide version I sported as a lad of 20. The older I get, the shorter it gets.

 

Viva la Victorian styles, they had character back then and bully fashion sense.

 

Dava