The Poor Man's Parker T1

[OldGriz]

As most of us know the Parker T1 is an extremely collectible fountain pen, despite it being one of the biggest failures to come out of Parker's R&D Department. The titanium nib was difficult to produce and did not write as well as advertised.

QUOTE

From Richard Binder ~ This deficiency is to some extent the result of inadequate quality control during manufacture, and the writing qualities of many of these pens can be improved. More serious is the T-1’s alarming tendency to shed its nib tipping material at the least provocation. For this reason, most collectors tend to leave their T-1s unused.

 

Parker did however, finally get the integrated nib concept right with the introduction of the Parker 50 (aka The Falcon).

 

First impressions

The pen featured is the Flighter version of the Falcon and like all Flighters (IMO) a gorgeous pen. I was very impressed with this pen when I first picked it up and I normally do not like small diameter pens.

 

Appearance and Finish

One of the things that Parker got really right was the development of the Flighter style of pens. It features a brushed stainless steel body and cap and the section is matte finished and leads to a high gloss integral nib. The clip is gold and it has a gold cap tassie with a black ring inset into it. All in all a very attractive pen.

 

Design/Size/Weight

The pen looks very much like the Parker T1 and the un-educated might mistake it at first.

The pen is slightly shorter than a Parker 45 and thinner in diameter. The stainless body puts in just about the same weight range (I had no way to measure the actual weight other than feel). It has a snap on cap, like the 45, and features a gold ring at the joint of the body/section that the cap snaps to. After a couple of weeks use, the cap still snaps on securely and shows no sign of coming off without effort on your part.

 

Nib Design & Performance

The nib is the part of this pen that is the most interesting. The nib is one piece with the section, unlike what most of us are used to when we look at a fountain pen. As mentioned the section is matte finished, but the nib itself has a high gloss finish that just looks so right on this pen. This pen has a medium nib and there is a big old ball of iridium at the end of the nib. It writes with a very smooth line and about 6/10 wetness loaded with Waterman Black ink. Out of curiosity, I tried the nib upside down and it still wrote smooth, but now produced a line about xf/fine in width and a bit drier.. but that was to be expected...

This is one sweet writing pen that allows you to use it just like you would a Parker 180, but IMO a lot nicer to hold. The Parker 180 is way to skinny for me to use comfortably.

 

Filling System

The pen is a cartridge/converter filler and came with a press bar converter. Since I was not sure I was going to keep the pen, I put a slide converter in it and have been using that. There is not much to say about the standard C/C filling system that you don't already know..

 

Overall

Overall, as you might has already guessed, I am very impressed with the design and writing ability of this pen. Parker really got the integrated nib right on this design. It is a shame it did not last longer than it did or it would have really given the Parker 45 a run for the money. Brand new these pens sold for $30.00 in the Flighter version.

Definitely more than a 45, but a much nicer pen and IMO a better writer.

I was fortunate to obtain a couple of Falcon Flighters brand new in the box with the original oversleeves, including 2 FP/BP combinations. The Flighter was introduced in 1977 and ended production in 1983. It should have enjoyed a longer run, but fountain pens were falling out of favor by then.

 

[FLZapped]

I think the most interesting thing I've discovered about mine is that with the ball tip on the nib, it has a really large sweet spot. The pen is very forgiving how you orient it.

 

-Bruce

[andyk]

Good review, nice looking pen.

 

I quite like the Falcon, have a Gold Plated one which writes very well but a bit too 'blingy' for everyday use (having said that it doesn't look cheap like a lot of GP pens do today, maybe it was the way they plated them).

 

A nice pen to fill up and use now and again. Might try it upside down next time after reading this.

[jonro]

Thanks for that review. If I can't get a T-1, then I think I'll look for one of these Flighters.

[OldGriz]

QUOTE (jonro @ Apr 15 2007, 05:28 PM)

Thanks for that review. If I can't get a T-1, then I think I'll look for one of these Flighters.

If you are coming to Raleigh Show, I will have some for sale...

Brand new in the box, some still have the original cardboard over sleeves.

[NSC]

Thanks for that review. If I can't get a T-1, then I think I'll look for one of these Flighters.

If you are coming to Raleigh Show, I will have some for sale...

Brand new in the box, some still have the original cardboard over sleeves.

 

i'm looking for a mint/unused t-1. please let me know if you still have any?

 

[Rockyrod]

I just got my first 50 and must agree with Griz. This one is a brown model which was the last year of issue. It takes some getting used to a smaller pen as my normal user pen is a Sheaffer Balance OS, but I do love the looks of that inline nib that reminds one of the T-1.

[troglokev]

Here's an image of the pen, for you. I used several as a student: the clips do not withstand the student lifestyle.

 

 

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5128/5213034530_277c849dd3_z.jpg

Parker 50 Falcon by Kev.1, on Flickr

[aircraft_electrician]

I purchased one of these a year or 2 ago from an eBay auction. The pictures were of course very blurry and all I could make out was the integrated nib, and I bid a couple of dollars in the hopes it could be a T1. It turned out to be a Falcon 50 Flighter with a rather contorted nib, along with a matching rollerball and a Sheaffer Ladies' Skripsert. A few minutes of straightening the nib and I had a most wonderful writer! I've grown to really like this pen, even though it is a good bit slimmer than most of my pens, and it's probably as close as I'll ever get to the infamous T1.

 

Nice review, Tom.

 

Tom

[Paulo R G Correa]

Dear Sir,

Appreciate me know, how to disassemble a Parker T-1 fountain pen. I need to give more pressure on the cap retaining springs. Is it possible?

Please I am waiting your answer, if possible with photos.

Thank you,

Paulo Correa