Description

HAWAII KAI "PINK LADY" (U-8) UNLIMITED HYDROPLANE

FULLY BUILT AND READY TO DISPLAY MUSEUM QUALITY SHIP MODEL

Dimension approx.: 26″ L x 11″ W x 5.5″ H
The model is already built. THIS IS NOT A MODEL KIT
Authentic gauges, dials and chrome steering wheel on dash
Authentic gauges, dials and chrome steering wheel on dash
Brass Propellers and rudders

THE GRACIOUS "PINK LADY"

Hawaii Kai III — the “Pink Lady” — emerged in 1956 as one of the most dazzling creations of the Unlimited hydroplane world, a sleek, rose‑colored missile built for Oakland industrialist Edgar Kaiser. Kaiser and his father Henry had already stamped their names into American industry by producing more than 700 Liberty Ships during World War II, but on the water they were pure racers, drawn to the thunder and spectacle of the sport.

The new Kai was born in Bay City, Michigan, where master builder Les Staudacher and designer Ted Jones crafted a 30‑foot, 6,600‑pound hull that pushed the boundaries of the era. Aluminum‑clad plywood — still a novelty — gave her strength without weight, and her tropical rose and coral mist paint made her unmistakable on any course. She was meant to be one of two new Kaiser boats, but when the planned Hawaii Kai II was abandoned, the III became the family’s sole standard‑bearer, carrying the legacy of the original Kai lost earlier that year.

Her racing debut in 1956 was almost accidental. Entering the season late, she was loaned to the Slo‑mo‑shun team after their own boat was destroyed, and promptly delivered her first victory at the Rodgers Memorial in Washington, D.C. It was a hint of what was coming.

Then came 1957 — the season that turned the Pink Lady into legend. She won five major races, swept the National Championship, and shattered both the mile straightaway record at 187.627 mph and the kilometer record at 195.329 mph. No other boat of the decade matched her combination of speed, reliability, and sheer dominance. She was the purest expression of Ted Jones’ design philosophy: light, balanced, and brutally fast.

By 1958, Kaiser planned to retire her from Gold Cup competition, but a newspaper prediction that she wouldn’t run stirred an unexpected voice — 11‑year‑old Patty Hunter, who wrote heartfelt letters urging Kaiser to enter her beloved Kai. He relented. On August 10, 1958, Hawaii Kai III roared across Lake Washington and won the Gold Cup in record time, keeping the sport’s most coveted trophy in Seattle and cementing her place in hydroplane lore.

After that triumph, Kaiser retired the boat for good. She passed briefly into other hands — racing as Miss U.S. V. in 1963 — before Kaiser bought her back in 1965 and restored her original pink livery. When he died, his crew honored him with a Polynesian‑style farewell on Orcas Island, sinking the Kai in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, letting her slip into the deep like a warrior laid to rest.

Today, Hawaii Kai III is remembered as the finest competitive Unlimited hydroplane of the 1950s, a boat so dominant that her 1957–58 achievements still echo through the sport. Replicas and modern rebuilds keep her silhouette alive, but the original Pink Lady remains a legend — fast, beautiful, and gone beneath the waves, exactly as her crew intended.