Had to look that up. Beautiful car . . . . .
It was, met its demise in France on the way to Spain. The AA transported it home and I sold it for peanuts. 
I really like that Espresso pen in your picture but it’s quite masculine. Agree wih you about the better inks and the converter being the best of both worlds.
Monteverde do lots of other styles:
Or the various multi-coloured resin bodied pens like the Nahvalur Schuylkill that I also showed above?
I have a couple of Monblanc fountain pens, one for black and one for blue-black. I lost the one for Sienna brown 
. Do sometimes cause inky fingers but make writing such a lyrical dance.
My MT much appreciated his Christmas card script, but then to a doctor everyone else’s writing is beautiful.
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Interesting post - I always used to use a fountain pen (although mainly for the Guardian cryptic crossword). Unfortunately, an arthritic right thumb now makes writing too painful. My favourite pen was the stainless steel Parker 61 Flighter, a futuristic embodiment of modernity.
Have also had a few tiny Kaweco Sports (then only available in black)
The super long cap converts the pen into a normal length one for writing.
I used to have my dad’s Montblanc pen, along with his Omega watch. I still have the watch but the pen seems to have vanished 
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The Borrowers really love pens!
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I’ve used Watermans for years. (At school, a fountain pen was obligatory.) I much prefer their narrow bodies.
Using a fountain pen allows my scrawl to approach legibility.
I recently lost one, so replaced it with another, which cost rather more than I anticipated, and didn’t even come with a converter.
And exploring inks is fun. My current favourite is a deep blu-black called “Eclipse”. I can’t remember who makes it, but it’s gorgeous.
The standard fountain pen of many a 60’s and 70’s schoolchild. That and a bottle of Quink. That’s exactly what I used. Seem to remember fountain pens were mandatory until a certain point in my schooldays when you could suddenly use (shock horror) a biro. Most switched including me.
Apparently the Chinese created a town called Dover so that their “Parker” pens could legitimately say they were made in Dover.
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This was my experience too. I will always use a ballpoint from choice, preferably with a Parker refill because of the qualities of handling.
This thread is a real eye opener for me, I honestly thought that fountain pens didn’t exist anymore and I am sure I have actually seen one for at least 30 years. The invention of the biro was a game changer for me and I have never looked back. My writing is very bad and I am sure would be even worse if I had to use something with a nib.
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We had to use fountain pens at school until it changed from a “grammar” school to a “high” school, but my writing has never been brilliant so a change to a ball point didnt make it any worse, just fewer splats 
.
However, I think I might have forgotten how to write now🙄
Me too! Hand writing Christmas and birthday cards is a disaster.
I’d do the same as you.
Newhaven, Parker pens are in Newhaven (or were ) you could see them from the ferry ,closed in 2023 and 145 houses built on the site.
I am fond of blue-blacks as well - check out “Twilight” by Diamine, or perhaps more readily available in France, “Bleu des Profondeurs” from Jacques Herbin.
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Of course most people use biros or fibre-tip pens (or Sharpies!) if they ever need to hand-write anything - but owning and using fountain pens has become a hobby in its own right.
I’m glad they still exist as it’s nice to have something traditional about the place, and the craftsmanship that goes into many fountain pens is excellent.
Switching back to a fountain pen may involve some readjustment of your writing style, but I have found it pretty easy, and now prefer using a proper pen rather than a scribbling device. 
I use fountain pen and write in black or almost black purple.
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