Chromeplated tassie and clip
Chromeplated trim as above but 75 inscribed on cap.
Goldplated tassie and clip Flighter Deluxe with 75 inscription
Goldplated trim like Deluxe version above but without 75 inscription
Flighter variations with tassies on barrel end, which is not the norm
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Pattern |
Smooth without any pattern, with or without barrel tassies, with silverplated or goldplated trim. One variation had the numbers "75" inscribed on the surface. Click here to view it and many other variants. |
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Material |
Stainless steel |
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Availability |
Fountain pen (in 1972 #543-100), felt-tip (in 1973 #543-200), and ball pen |
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Price |
1977: FP - $27.50; FT - $12.50; BP - $10;
PCL - $10 |
Some earlier production models sport a gold ring near the open end of the cap, just below the Parker name. This gold ring was later omitted for the overseas market. In both cases, these had gold-plated trim -- tassies and clip, as seen in the top two pens above.
Another lower-priced variant used a chrome-plated clip and tassie instead of being gold-plated, as shown in the bottom-most image above. These were usually accompanied by a nib made out of an alloy Parker called octanium, and on a few rarer occasions, titanium.
The US version with gold trim and the "Sundstrand finish" was also known as model #5-543-101 and was released in 1972. This model with the gold trim was also produced by Parker France in 1983.
The version with the chrome trim and a nib made from a stainless steel alloy Parker called Octanium was a foreign model and was known as model #5-578-100. I have also found the titanium nib with the chrome trim Flighters. It was released in 1977 and had a "Porter-Cable finish." A revised version released in 1980 was model #5-578-101 had a "Sundstrand finish."
Several prototypes are known to exist:
The later versions were made in France, as seen with the cap inscription below. This FP also had chrome plated cap tassie and clip, but the barrel was normal for a Flighter in that there was no tassie.
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Weight comparison:
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This BP variation has over 60 fine concentric lines on the barrel near the opening, the first one I have ever seen like this.
There exists a version that was made in Australia! Well at least it is so inscribed which you might notice under the Parker name..
For more images, click on the above picture.
