The Go!’s model number is M75, which ranks it in Pelikan’s hierarchy as a student pen. It’s similar to the Pelikano, starting with the plastic body, the grip and the steel nib.
However, in the preceding photo you can see an ink window, and in the next photo, a piston knob.
The Go! is a piston filler. Mine, which hadn’t been used before, has excellent and very smooth action.
Here’s another view of the Go! grip: it’s just part of the molded plastic body, but it’s comfortable: nicely girthy and not as prescriptive as the Safari grip.
In size it’s similar to the Safari, and much larger than the M400 or M200 Pelikans.
The steel nib — mine is a medium — is smooth and mine writes with no skipping or hesitation. It is similar to a Pelikano or Safari nib.
The design works really well in terms of user comfort and convenience. The looks aren’t gush-worthy, but I think it’s fine for a nicely priced student pen. The clip and the plastic above the ink window come in different colors to give it a little fun touch.
I mean, it’s $20. And a very functional piston filler.
I like the cap medallion. Mine is even pink.
I haven’t really found any definitive source for when these were manufactured. The box has lots of information, but no date. And, sadly, the only three words of German I know are “Pelikan” and”99 Luftballons.” All of which have been the source of years of happiness, though.
I can say that the Go! was definitely after made 1990, because the box declares “made in Germany.” The website I find most authoritative for Pelikan history says only that it was made after 1985. The colors and the design strike me as very 1980s. As does the name “Go!” I like that.
I like my Go! It’s just like a Pelikano with a piston filler. A nice student pen that is sturdy and fairly comfortable, as those go. But of course nothing like Pelikan’s Souverän line. It’s instead comparable to a Lamy Safari. It lacks the beautiful (to me) Safari design. But it’s a piston filler.
I also picked up one of these for $20 on eBay. For that price, you really can’t go wrong can you? As you say, the piston mechanism is like butter. I would like to know why these didn’t last longer than they did.
The nib on mine is incredibly smooth, but the flow is on the generous side of firehose: De Atramentis Plum comes out as almost black.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My wife purchased one exactly like this at the LA Show several years ago for about $10, iirc.
I think it would do great in today’s market and am ecstatic it lacks the Safari design.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“I am ecstatic it lacks the Safari design.” Excellent comment! I am sure you are in the majority there. 🙂
LikeLike
Ah that is very kind. Pelikan nicely printed everything in five languages. 🙂
I got it last year, I think. I wasn’t happy using a converter with the Pelikano, so I tried a few cheap older Pelikans.
I can’t believe how nice the piston action is for a pen this inexpensive. I’m thinking if Pelikan could make a profit on a sub-$20 steel-nib piston-filler like the M75, its margins today on a legacy product like the M200 must be enormous.
LikeLike
What a cool find! Have you had it long? I could definitely see this as a nineties pen – the colors have that ‘eighties, but more muted’ look that was on until the mid-nineties or so. But I’m surprised anyone was making cheapie piston fillers that recently! I thought once cartridges became popular, that was the end of the other filling systems on school pens.
If you want to post the back with the info in German, I could have a look! My German’s pretty lousy but I can get by when it comes to marketing materials, plus my mom’s fluent and between her knowledge of the language and mine of pens, I bet we could suss it out 😛
LikeLiked by 1 person