When Stephan Lucht asked me to take a look at his limited edition Italian Rally Passion fountain pen project, I knew instantly that this wasn’t going to be typical. Stephan is far from typical and this isn’t just a pen review. This is a story of passion. So strap in and get ready to put your pedal to the metal!
Many of you may not know Stephan, but you’ll certainly be familiar with some of his projects. Stephan is the Managing Director at Tinte Im Blut and is the German distributor for: Visconti, Sailor, Diamine, Flexbook, Schmidt and Delta. But you may know him for his Diamine exclusive sheening inks including: Skull and Roses, Communication Breakdown, Purple Rain, Smoke on the Water, Hells Bells, Master of Puppets and Bloody Absinthe to name a few and not forgetting his stunning collection of Guitar Inks. I interviewed him a while ago, please click this link and check him out for background info.
See what I mean? He’s the real deal – a petrol head heavy rocker with a passion for top end fountain pens and monster sheen inks. Can you get any heavier than that? The ‘heaviest’ pen I have ever reviewed is the Visconti Homo Sapiens Bronze Age. No surprise that Stephan distributes these too.
So what’s happening here? As you read in the interview with Stephan, for many years he worked for Lancia, satisfying his petrol head addiction. And back in 1970’s rally driving was the ultimate showcase event for many car manufacturers who would customise and test their vehicles with new products and technologies. With the passionate fans, classy Italian car designs and world renowned race tracks this was an itch that Stephan desperately needed a scratch. When he left Lancia to start his stationery company, I think that this was a big project on his to-do list, and so here we are!
The Italian Rally Passion fountain pen has been put together by the Neapolitan company Delta Pens, who specialise in limited edition top quality writing instruments and the finish is just eye popping! Referencing the image above, you can see that Stephan has created a pen that pays homage to the styling of the legendary Lancia Stratos in amazing detail.
The amount of detailing on these pens is impressive and stylish and includes: detailing from the holes in the steering wheel on the clip and the checkered flag on the cap trim to the Italian tricolour barrel band, the Rosso Corsa Italian car colouring of the main barrel and the matt black cap colouring paying homage to the glare-free hoods of the era. Even the piston filling system has a yellow viewing window giving a nod to the yellow headlights of the time.
The 6 x 100 limited editions are available as fountain pens and ballpoint pens and come in three racing colours; Corsa Rosso, French Racing Blue and, British Racing Green. Each engraved numbered pen comes in a sleeved gift box with a numbered edition booklet. And each fountain pen comes with a small bottle of ink to match the colour of the pen.
The 14Kt gold nib is available in EF, F, M, B, 1.1 Stub, Flex EF and Flex F. The pen length when closed is 153mm, with cap posted is 170mm and without the cap is 137mm. It weighs 28g.
It feels wonderful in hand a writes beautifully. As you’d expect.
But it doesn’t just stop there. A desktop race track is also available (see above) to house three Diamine exclusive inks, a model car and two pens!
The three pen colours and Diamine exclusive ink hues
Gift box sleeve (top view)
It’s quite the story and not it’s just about producing a pen. It’s the history and passion behind it that helps make this something extra special. And this isn’t an everyday pen. It’s an investment of treasured memories and homages to a great era of rally racing. Cheers Stephan! You’re the man!
For further information you can contact Stephan at Tinte Im Blut.
And HEY! If you’re interested to know more about how to use fountain pen inks in more creative ways – whether it’s simply to observe their chromatic behaviours, or, to recreate one of my swatch cards, or, to learn how to use them in watercolour painting, illustration and calligraphy, why not check out my online course or, even better, sign up for a workshop?
FOUNTAIN PEN INK ART 