Vintage Lamy Profil 80, 81, 86...

[MYU]

I'm sure some of you remember the Lamy Profil 80. It was the precursor to the famous 2000 model. You can see many design elements for the 2000 came from the Profil 80. Photo gallery by Jan Frišman here: 80 Gallery, 81 Gallery.

 

Photos from JF_LAMY Collection (Jan Frišman)

 

From what I've seen there were 3 models - the 80 (all black body and cap), 81 (black body, brushed steel cap), and 86 (same as 80, but without chrome cap accent).

 

I have an Profil 81... and it has a medium nib that writes more like a broad.

 

HOWEVER...something very strange happened to my pen. The section managed to crack into 2 pieces. No abnormal force took place. The pen was sitting in storage and I recently took it out. When I pulled on the metal slip cap, it came off with ease... leaving the nib inside! I had to take apart the cap in order to expel the nib and section part. I'm baffled as I'd never had a pen section crack like this on me. The only saving grace is that there's a core translucent tube inside it that facilitates the ink window. So, I'm thinking that it may be possible to repair it since it shouldn't come into contact with any adhesive used.

 

In any case, I was wondering if anyone here who has a Lamy 80/81/86 collection might have a spare section they'd be willing to part with?

 

 

[AidenMark]

Sorry to hear about the broken section. Maybe someone in the repair forum could help.

 

From those I've used, I get the impression that the Lamy pens of the era (they were produced from 74 - 85 so they were really the children of the 2K) had great nibs but used a lower quality material for the feeds and body of the pens.

 

The 80 writes beautifully but feels like a cheap plastic fantastic promotion pen. It doesn't come as a shock that the section material is starting to decay.

 

All I can think to suggest is to keep an eye on German ebay - 80/81s (even broken ones) are very common there and don't sell for high prices.

 

 

If anyone is interested in this style of pen Christof (Zollinger of Penexchange and this board fame) produced a great article on the Profile series can be found here . It was also posted to this board but the images have gone awol.

[Calabria]

I had that pen in the 80s. The black was more like a deep brown. Loved it, but it broke apart like you describe it - after a year of use. RIP

[TorPelikan]

My 81 is still in good shape, but brown (not so deep) 86 developed a semi-circular crack in the section.

The crack is in the threaded part of the section just 5 mm from the connection to the barrel.

 

The material used was not enough durable as expected, I suppose.

[MYU]

@AidenMark - thanks for the info. When I contacted LAMY support, Bob Nurin replied and told me he couldn't help with parts because "the Profil was a precursor to the 2000". Funny thing, to my eye it does look like a mid 70's design. So it's interesting to know that the 2000 inspired it, rather than the other way around! You're right, in that the plastic material feels rather reminiscent of the kind used in some matte finish disposable rollerball pens. I hadn't thought to look on German eBay directly, but will do so now (I was searching "Worldwide", but must not be checking international eBay sites). Of course the trick is to find one where shipping to the USA isn't astronomical!

 

@Calabria, @TorPelikan - it's discouraging to hear about your experience with the 80/81 Profil... but I appreciate hearing it. Sad that this kind of cracking is not uncommon.

 

I have to wonder if this was due to a deficient plastic formulation that occurred inconsistently. Because otherwise it would be expected that all pens from this model line would start to suffer cracking. As a possible analogy, some CASIO G-Shock watch models from the 1980's and 1990's suffered resin rot in the bezel that covered their cases. Certain models were notorious for it. But... a fraction of them would survive and not show signs of it. Meanwhile other "brother" models were perfectly fine. So, I'm thinking that with the 80/81 Profil, it could be random chance, where some were unlucky to have a plastic formulation that is like a "ticking time bomb" where they will certainly break at some point while others will not.

Edited February 28, 2018 by MYU