The Parker 180 was released to the market in 1978, but the company had already trademarked the name back in 1974.
This pen is the all brushed steel, gold trimmed Flighter GT version, made in the U.S.A and carrying a date code for the first quarter of 1980.
The pen is in excellent condition throughout and shows little, if any sign of use, althogh i have inked it once for testing purposes. The most striking feature of the 180 is the large trangular nib, 14Ct. Gold on this pen. It writes with a light touch, perhaps a little on the fine side of medium.
Parker had dealt with numerous complaints from customers using Gold nibbed pens, such as the Parker 75, which were caused by the user, being more accustomed to pressing hard with a ballpoint, bending the Gold nib. Parker were determined to offer a large Gold nib on the 180 so it was reinforced from above by a metal strut and from below by a rubust feed. The result is the distinctive, lethal looking, and effective double sided 180 nib assembly.
It also has a cross hatched, plastic gripping section and a "winged" tassie that was actually designed to "hook" in the cap when it was posted on the back, to prevent the pen body from scratches while writing.
The Parker 180 is a cartridge converter filler. Due to the slim profile, some Parker converters won't fit, but this pen is fitted with the original slim Parker screw type converter and is supplied with a new ink cartridge so it is ready to write in either configuration.
The Parker 180 flighter GT was expensive when new and had a reatively short production run, resulting in fewer sales and scarce numbers of 'survivors'. It is a visually striking, robust, high quality vintage pen which is now very collectable. It would also make a first rate, practical, vintage daily writer.