Parker 45 CT

[Jeph]

Mostly on a lark, I picked up this black Parker 45 CT (all plastic) from Switzerland. I paid 2 euros for the pen, 13 euros for shipping, AND had to drive to the regional customs office to provide written proof beyond the customs forms attached to the box that I really only paid 2 euros for it. It was a lot of fun for the 100 Swiss Franc price tag to fall out of the box when I opened it for the customs official. As you might expect, I was not happy with the pen as I drove home in the rain this morning dodging tractors and renegade cows. (There were not really any cows in the road, but in my foul mood I was expecting one around every curve. There WERE plenty of tractors. Go, go Bavaria!) I had no intention of posting any pictures of this pen. I was going to check it, clean it up and then find someone to give it away to. You are reading this, so obviously something changed.

I looked in the box and there were no papers, but I was struck by how much I actually liked the lines of the pen, and the black and chrome combination simply looked right. Maybe the pen was not so bad after all. Also in the box were a very nice Parker aerometric converter and an unused Parker Super Quink washable blue ink tap tip cartridge. That was kind of nice also. The pen was in good shape, with only light scratches in the normal places. I opened it up and there was another old cartridge installed. I tried the nib and it wrote a nice smooth medium line albeit with some feedback. I unscrewed the nib unit and was impressed with how it was put together. I took the nib unit apart and was even more impressed with the way it was put together. Both the nib (14K) and the feed were shaped so that they only go together one way, and that position was solid and well supported in all 3 dimensions. The old Parker washable blue ink washed away easily and the pen was ready to go back together very quickly.

With both the converter and the cartridge, the last half turn of the barrel seats the ink cylinder firmly on the section nipple. That was yet another very nice design touch. I liked the size of the pen, large without being heavy. I also liked the balance of the pen. The large, smooth section was very comfortable. I was almost finished and I had had not found anything that I didn’t like about the pen. My initial disappointment at a boring, simple black plastic pen had faded from memory. Less than a minute of nib smoothing later and the feedback was almost gone on the nib put down a consistent, smooth, effortless line on the fine side of medium.

I do not know why I keep getting impressed when I look closely at Parker pens. I also do not know why this pen does not get more attention. The Parker 45, and specifically the all plastic CT (Arrow), might not be much as far as a collectible pen goes, but it makes one great user pen. It is well designed, well made, has a 14K nib (it even has some spring), is easy to maintain, is well sized and writes wonderfully. The only mark against it is that you have to use a Parker converter, but those are plentiful even if the modern ones do not get seated in place by screwing down the barrel. You can find more information about them at ParkerPens.net here: Parker 45 (http://www.parkerpens.net/parker45.html)


Length Capped 135 mm 5.33 in. 5 1/3 "
Posted Length 142 mm 5.59 in. 5 19/32"
Unposted length 127 mm 5.00 in. 5 "
Cap Length 62 mm 2.45 in. 2 7/16"
Barrel Max Dia 11.5 mm .45 in. 7/16"
Section Min Dia 7.4 mm .29 in. 9/32"

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[rberg6868]

I have a couple of Parker 45's as well and the just work. I have the Flighter version and a grey one with a lustraloy cap. They always seem to be ready to go even if they have been sitting for a while. I know it's a day late but Frohlichen Fullertag! (I am a teacher and have an exchange student from Heidelberg who translated it for me.)
-Russell

[cedargirl]

I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy me Parker 45s.

[writingrav]

Agreed. Parker 45's are mysteriously undervalued. I have 3 and have never been anything but completely satisfied. Enjoy!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

[usk15]

I had a flighter version, very reliable pen, but i find it too small for my hands.

[Runnin_Ute]

I recently got my first 45 - a Flighter with a 14k nib. Got it for a steal. I would have expected to pay double what I paid for era (late '60's), nib (14k M), and condition - great shape. And it is a sweet writer too.

[Jeph]

Yeah, I gave this one to my father for Christmas so I have since replaced it with a British Flighter. I think that I like the plastic one better but I am weird. It is still a great pen.

[ac12]

That is a NICE pen. At an even better price.
I only have the later 45s, not the earlier one you got. I need to get one of those.
And I agree with you on the pen. I used 2 of them to take me through undergrad in college. The only reason I upgraded was I was seduced by the looks of the Parker 75 and 180. But they did not write any better than the 45, only cost me a LOT more $$.

[HughC]

No doubt the 45 is a classic model. The length of production, range and the quality/value for money makes it one of the outstanding models from any maker imo. I've a few including an early one (possible first year pen) with a Parker/Eversharp converter piston converter (like the newer piston converters) that still works perfectly some 50yrs later , or it did last time I filled it !!. I haven't come across the all plastic ones but they do look rather good, a neat present for your dad.

Regards
Hugh

[Spikey Mike]

I'm a sucker for Parker 45's ... especially the Flighters and Harlequins.

[Jeph]

I was not happy with my Flighter version so I recently picked up this 1Q 2008 (date code E.111) British 45. You can tell it was the last version by the gold colored trim and rounded cap jewel. Other than that it is a pretty standard 45. The one difference is the crazy syringe converter. It has the Parker imprint on the back, it fits and I got the pen apparently NOS in the box so I suspect that it is correct. I will probably ink it as I like the rich royal blue color.

9775977697779778

[KrazyIvan]

I have an older pen and pencil set with the black plastic section and lustraloy cap. It seems to be from around the time cartridges were just coming out as it came with a demonstrator cartridge along with the standard blue cartridge. Looks like it was never inked.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7428/8716669466_0c82146e05_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivan_romero/8716669466/)
Empty Cartridge is For Demonstration. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivan_romero/8716669466/) by IvanRomero (http://www.flickr.com/people/ivan_romero/), on Flickr

[Jeph]

Well, I have snagged a handful more 45's now, and none of them really measure up to the (possibly unrealistic) standard that my first one set. None of them are bad, but somehow they just don't quite do it for me. The last one I think is the most interesting. It is not really black, not blue, more of a dark grey. And the finish has more of a Markolon (sp?) texture and color like the Lamy 2000. The cap does say "Parker" but not "Made in USA" or "Made in England" like the others. It is also all metal with traces of overspray in the cap. I am not sure what to make of it. Sorry for the quality of the picture, but my Parker tray won't fint into my lightbox.

11141

[Ernst Bitterman]

I'd be surprised if that one on the end didn't have INDUSTRIA ARGENTINA around the back of the cap... or on the point, one you've taken it to bits. Mine doesn't have a thick enough finish to obscure the smaller letters, but I have an Arrow in the same finish that was DE IN FR CE so I can see it becoming obscure.

http://dirck.delint.ca/beta/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Parker-0375.jpg

Apparently the 61-style clip is standard for Argentine production.

[Jeph]

Once again Ernst knew (and shared) what I had. There were no other visible marks on the cap or barrel but the nib showed the truth. Stamped on the nib is
PARKER
NDUSTRIA (The leading “I” probably rotted off)
ARGENTINA

Not only did this nib unit not want to unscrew, but once I had it out I could not get the cowl off the feed. On all of my other 45’s the cowl either came off immediately or after an hour soaking in water. This one after 18 hours still would not budge. I had to resort to heat to get the cowl off of the nib unit. Once I had it apart you could see enough of the imprint to know that Ernst was correct. I soaked the nib unit parts overnight in pen flush and still I had the scrub with a stiff toothbrush (try finding one of those nowadays) and then I could only get most of the crud off. There was so much plating transfer to the feed from the underside of the nib that I had to scrape it off. As you can see in the picture there was a pretty good amount of nib rot on the back of the nib. There was also some on the bottom of the nib where the feed ends. You might also notice that the feed slit is significantly off center. It is hard to see in the picture but there are also two bumps forward of the breather hole. I don’t know what they are from but the bumps do not align with any features of the feed. This was too nice of a pen to have a crap nib so I stole the 10K F nib unit from the gold trimmed flighter in the center of the picture of 5 45’s above in a previous post.

The coating color is a beautiful matte dark grey. I show a close up picture of the coated section on this Argentine 45 next to a black US production 45 section. (Also from the US flighter that I stole the nib unit from.) What is better, the texture gives a very comfortable grip on the section. Plus, my purely subjective feel is that it is somewhere between celluloid and hard rubber in feel. It feels “soft” and even warm compared to plastic and to my taste far superior to the cold feel on a metal cap as it rests on the back of my hand. Both the body and cap are metal, but the body has a thick molded plastic insert with the threads and the cartridge gripping bulges at the back. But, that means that the standard Parker piston converter will not fit. Thankfully I had one more Parker squeeze converter in one of my sacks of parts so that was not an issue.

I have my monster Parker 45 back now and all is right with the world. :)

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[pajaro]

I love looking at Parker 45s, particularly the ones from the 1960s.

[vibhi204]

simply amazing Parker 45s looks like one of those old vintage pens beaytiful in looks and smooth as silk in writing.great pics.

[Spikey Mike]

Thought I'd add this in here - some of my Parker 45's and a stripped down old Flighter to show what goes into it.
http://www.pencollect.co.uk/personal/p45metal.jpg

[Murfie]

Just a heads-up on Gary Lehrer's (gopens.com (http://gopens.com)) latest quarterly catalog (#72) in release for subscribers and soon for the general public. There are several quality NOS Parker 45's offered that are worthy of a look - No affiliation apart from being a satisfied customer for several years.

[KBeezie]

I was not happy with my Flighter version so I recently picked up this 1Q 2008 (date code E.111) British 45. You can tell it was the last version by the gold colored trim and rounded cap jewel. Other than that it is a pretty standard 45. The one difference is the crazy syringe converter. It has the Parker imprint on the back, it fits and I got the pen apparently NOS in the box so I suspect that it is correct. I will probably ink it as I like the rich royal blue color.

9775977697779778


Very classy looking, always been a fan of Blue + Gold, but not very many companies get just right shade of either.

[Austin_Malone]

I love the 45. Hands down my favorite model ever. Can't ever justify getting another M nib though.