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Hawaii Kai III Driver: Jack Regas, Owner: Industrialist Edgar
F. Kaiser
F. Kaiser
U-8 Hawaii Kai III (USA )
Owner - Edgar Kaiser (Oakland)
Designer - Ted Jones
Builder - Les Staudacher
Length - 30ft
Beam - 12ft 3in
Hull - 3 pointer
Colours - coral pink & cream [also described as
"tropical rose and coral mist"],
no trim on tail fin
Detail - metal clad plywood
Weight - 6,600
Power - V12 Allison
Drivers - Howard Gidovlenko & Jack Regas
Owner - Edgar Kaiser (Oakland)
Designer - Ted Jones
Builder - Les Staudacher
Length - 30ft
Beam - 12ft 3in
Hull - 3 pointer
Colours - coral pink & cream [also described as
"tropical rose and coral mist"],
no trim on tail fin
Detail - metal clad plywood
Weight - 6,600
Power - V12 Allison
Drivers - Howard Gidovlenko & Jack Regas
Hawaii Kai III Driver: Jack Regas
Owner: Industrialist Edgar Kaiser
Owner: Industrialist Edgar Kaiser
| Kaiser Automotive |
| History In the spring of 1942, Henry J. Kaiser broke ground for the first integrated steel mill located West of the Rockies. The Auto Club Speedway was built at the historic site of the former Kaiser Steel Mill November 1, 1993: Initial discussions among Penske Speedways Inc. and Kaiser Ventures Inc. begin about making a speedway in California. The California Speedway is approximately 45 miles (72 km) east of Los Angeles, CA. April 20, 1994: Official announcement is made to the public about making a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) NASCAR track in California. July 18, 1994: CART signs on to officially run races at California Speedway in a multi-year deal. April 26, 1995: San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors approves for construction of the track. November 22, 1995: Initial construction for the 2.0-mile (3.2 km) speedway begins. May 30, 1996: NASCAR, ABC, and ESPN team up to sign a multi-year deal to televise the California race live. January 10, 1997: CART Team Penske driver Paul Tracy is the first person to drive on California Speedway. March 24, 1997: Jay Sauter and Dave Marcis are the first to drive stock cars on the pavement of California Speedway, testing for IROC. May 5, 1997: First Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series) Test session for California Speedway. June 20, 1997: Official opening of California Speedway. |
Edgar F. Kaiser, son of famed industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and a business giant in his own
right, was a household name in Vancouver during World War II.
Kaiser was a resident of Vancouver during those war years and personally oversaw the
building of more than 140 ships here between 1942 and 1946. He also helped found the
Kaiser Permanente plan that was to become the largest private prepaid health program in
the country.
Kaiser was born July 29, 1908, in Spokane. He majored in economics at the University of
California, then joined his father as superintendent of a pipeline project in Kansas. They then
went on to help construct Hoover, Bonneville and Grand Coulee dams.
The Kaisers got into the shipbuilding business in 1940, sponsoring a consortium of six
companies to open a yard at Richmond, Calif. When the United States entered the war on
Dec. 7, 1941, the Kaisers moved quickly to open additional shipyards at Vancouver and at
Swan Island.
While at Vancouver, Edgar Kaiser gained a reputation as a high-balling boss who drove his
crews to meet and beat schedules. As a result, the 38,000 men and women employed at the
Vancouver shipyards turned out 141 vessels of different types.
During their dam construction days, Henry J. and Edgar Kaiser organized a new style of
prepaid medical care for their employees. At Vancouver, this concept was translated into the
Kaiser Permanente hospital. It is estimated that a quarter of Vancouver's population now
subscribes to the Kaiser plan.
The Kaisers also built empires in aluminum, chemicals, cement and steel. There also were
the Kaiser automobiles, popular just after World War II. The first prototype of the Kaiser car
was built at the Vancouver shipyards as the war ended.
After Henry J. died in 1967, Edgar became chairman of the board of Kaiser Industries. He
died Dec. 13, 1981, at the age of 73.
right, was a household name in Vancouver during World War II.
Kaiser was a resident of Vancouver during those war years and personally oversaw the
building of more than 140 ships here between 1942 and 1946. He also helped found the
Kaiser Permanente plan that was to become the largest private prepaid health program in
the country.
Kaiser was born July 29, 1908, in Spokane. He majored in economics at the University of
California, then joined his father as superintendent of a pipeline project in Kansas. They then
went on to help construct Hoover, Bonneville and Grand Coulee dams.
The Kaisers got into the shipbuilding business in 1940, sponsoring a consortium of six
companies to open a yard at Richmond, Calif. When the United States entered the war on
Dec. 7, 1941, the Kaisers moved quickly to open additional shipyards at Vancouver and at
Swan Island.
While at Vancouver, Edgar Kaiser gained a reputation as a high-balling boss who drove his
crews to meet and beat schedules. As a result, the 38,000 men and women employed at the
Vancouver shipyards turned out 141 vessels of different types.
During their dam construction days, Henry J. and Edgar Kaiser organized a new style of
prepaid medical care for their employees. At Vancouver, this concept was translated into the
Kaiser Permanente hospital. It is estimated that a quarter of Vancouver's population now
subscribes to the Kaiser plan.
The Kaisers also built empires in aluminum, chemicals, cement and steel. There also were
the Kaiser automobiles, popular just after World War II. The first prototype of the Kaiser car
was built at the Vancouver shipyards as the war ended.
After Henry J. died in 1967, Edgar became chairman of the board of Kaiser Industries. He
died Dec. 13, 1981, at the age of 73.
=
| Henry J.'s Pink Hawaii Hawaii has never been the same since a bald, rotund tourist wafted in on the trade winds for a vacation in 1954. The tourist was Henry J. Kaiser, fresh from several careers as wartime shipbuilder, automaker, steelman and millionaire chief of a vast industrial empire. Vacationing with his second wife, Kaiser found hotel accommodations scarce on Honolulu's crowded Waikiki Beach, rented a house near Diamond Head, and sat back to wonder who would house the hordes of mainlanders he felt sure would discover the island's natural beauty and balmy climate. His predictable answer: Henry J. Kaiser. Thereupon Kaiser launched a new career as the biggest—and most controversial—booster and builder ever to hit Hawaii. He has already built about $50 million worth of hotels, hospitals, plants and housing developments and, at 78, feels that he is only beginning. Last week Kaiser showed off the first houses in his most ambitious project: The Jeepster was a convertible about half-way between a military Jeep and a sports car. This two wheel drive vehicle was only made from 1948 to 1950, but was resurrected by AMC in the '60's as the Jeepster Commando. Some people point out that the Jeepster was technically a phaetom, not a convertible. A phaeton was a type of two-door touring car without a solid top. To the common man, phaeton doesn't mean much. The wagon and pickup truck were available in both 2WD and 4WD with a 4-cylinder or 6- cylinder engine. Kaiser bought Willys-Overland in 1953 and dropped "Overland" from the name. In the 1956, Willys introduced snub-nosed forward control models. Production of Willys wagons and trucks continued under the name of the Willys Motor Company until 1963, when the name was changed to the Kaiser-Jeep Corporation. Production of the Willys wagons and trucks continued for two more years until 1965. Willys had production facilities in Brazil, Argentina, Israel, and India, and Japan. Some of these continued making vehicles that were essentially the same as the Utility vehicles for several more years. But eventually Kaiser sold these. Thus ended the production of those interesting vehicles we call Willys. , a projected $350 million dream city on the eastern end of Oahu Island, to be built on 6,000 acres between picturesque Maunalua Bay and Kuapa Fishpond. Hawaii Kai, which Hawaiians call the "Pink Dream," will eventually contain about 11,000 single-family houses—ranging from $25,000 to more than $45,000—for some 75,000 people. Plans call for 20 miles of man-made beach, schools, country clubs and marinas. Like all of Kaiser's other Hawaii projects—including his hotels, his fleet of 200 vehicles, bulldozers and cranes, and his private navy of dredges—the houses in Hawaii Kai will feature Kaiser's favorite color: shocking pink. His engineers say the job will take ten years, but Kaiser insists it will be five. Cement & Thatches. Kaiser started in a small way—for him. He bought $3,000,000 worth of land bordering on Waikiki, created his own beach and artificial lagoon, and started work on his Hawaiian Village Hotel. In short order, he built 70 thatch-roofed units, a million-dollar 100-room hotel, a 1,000-seat convention hall, a 14-story, 260-room Ocean Tower, an aluminum dome for the convention over flow, and a $1.5 million, 13-story hotel. Now being finished are a pair of $5 million, 17-story hotels called the Diamond Head Towers, which will give the Hawaiian Village more rooms (1,600) than any other hotel in Hawaii. Kaiser plans to raise the total to 5,000 when business justifies it. Says he: "Conventions can equal the rest of the tourist business in Hawaii combined." Kaiser is so bullish about Hawaii's future that this year he opened a $13.5 million Permanente Cement plant with a capacity (1.7 million barrels annually) just about equaling the present cement consumption of Hawaii. He is confident that new buildings will rise to use his cement, but his move got him into a feud with Hawaii's powerful Dillingham family, which owns a share of a huge cement plant. Kaiser has also built the $4 million Kaiser Medical Center, the islands' most modern hospital, has built two clinics and is planning a third to accommodate 40,000 members he has signed up in his own health plan. His other Hawaiian interests include a radio and TV station and a fleet of twin-hulled tour boats (catamarans). Henry J. Kaiser was born on May 9, 1882, in Sprout Brook, N.Y. He left school at the age of 13 to work, and in 1906 he moved to the West Coast. Sales jobs led him into the construction business, and in 1914 he formed a road-paving firm, which pioneered in the use of heavy construction machinery. His boundless energy, imagination, and optimism were reflected in his company's reputation for speed, efficiency, and economy. In 1927 a $20-million Cuban road-building contract helped forge the expansion of Kaiser's firm. Four years later he joined with several other large contractors to build the Hoover, Bonneville, and Grand Coulee dams; he also expanded into sand and gravel and cement production. When the United States entered World War II, he decided to apply his company's construction skills to shipbuilding. By 1945 the company had built 1,490 vessels, establishing new records for speed. During this period Kaiser built the first integrated steel plant on the West Coast, a factory which supplied material for his wartime manufacturing. In 1944 Kaiser began looking forward to the postwar period. He predicted needs for housing, medical care, and transportation and began working to fill them. He expanded his cement and steel operations; began manufacturing aluminum, gypsum, and appliances and other household products; and built 10,000 houses. His most ambitious project, undertaken with Joseph W. Frazer, was the manufacture of automobiles, which Kaiser approached with his customary boldness and imagination. However, postwar and Korean War shortages, under-capitalization, and the disadvantages of being a new entrant in the automotive industry caused his company's failure. It sustained a $111,188,000 loss, although the Kaiser Jeep division survived. One of Kaiser's proudest achievements of this period was his medical care plan, begun for employees in 1942 and made public in 1945. This became the largest privately sponsored health plan in the world. In 1954 Kaiser began a new building project in Hawaii, after a visit there had revealed great opportunities for his undiminished desire to build. From that time on he left the day- to-day control of the rest of his enterprises to his son. Kaiser himself remained in the islands, supervising the construction of a hotel, hospitals, plants, housing developments, and a $350,000,000 "dream" city called Hawaii Kai. He died in Honolulu on Aug. 24, 1967 at the age of 85. California's Edgar Kaiser, 56, is an uncommonly sentimental tycoon. Whenever he sees his father, the legendary Henry J. Kaiser, 82, he greets the old man with a warm hug and a kiss. Two weeks ago, when Edgar was decorated with Brazil's Order of the Southern Cross, the tears flowed freely down his cheeks. On business matters, however, Edgar Kaiser is eminently dry-eyed. Finally stepping out of his father's long shadow, he has taken full charge of the family's 100-company empire and spread the business into 40 countries on six continents. Last week, as the last of their major companies reported for 1964, the Kaisers toted up profits of $46 million on sales of $1.3 billion. For their major manufacturing arms, it was the brightest year since Henry J. Started making steel, building ships and breaking production records in 1941. Rising on Risks. Next week Edgar Kaiser will jet from his headquarters in Oakland, Calif, to Venezuela, where Kaiser engineers head a consortium of companies from five nations that is building the $137 million Guri Dam. Meanwhile, Kaiser Aluminum is busy putting up new plants in West Berlin, Turkey and Japan. Kaiser Steel has just closed the largest trade deal in Australia's history: with a local partner, it will sell $600 million worth of iron ore to Japan over the next 15 years. Kaiser Cement & Gypsum this month opened a mill in Florida, and later this year will start up another in New Jersey, thus invading the eastern U.S. market. Like his father, Edgar rushes in where the timid fear to tread, following the company's slogan—"Find a need, and fill it." Optimism is the cornerstone of the Kaiser philosophy, and Edgar argues with folksy persuasion that the world's needs are bound to rise so fast that he would be foolish not to try to meet them. Such a philosophy obviously has built-in risks. Kaiser has taken on an extraordinarily heavy debt load, which both limits the payment of cash dividends and makes the company vulnerable to any severe recession in the future. Last year his engineers lost $16 million, largely because a Kaiser dam in Greece was washed out by floods. A dike-building project in Israel was damaged when the Dead Sea overflowed—for the first time since the days of Moses. Other businessmen often wonder why Kaiser is deeply committed in such unpredictable areas as Latin America (where Kaiser-Willys is the continent's biggest auto producer), or India (where Kaiser operates the country's largest aluminum plant), or Ghana (where Kaiser is building the $196 million Volta Dam and an aluminum plant that will be served by it). To such questioning, Edgar gives a disarming answer: "How are you ever going to give these people the opportunity to know us unless you work with them?" |
The Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program recently observed its fortieth anniversary. Today, it is the
largest, one of the oldest, and certainly the most influential group practice prepayment health plan in the
nation. But in 1938, when Henry J. and Edgar F. Kaiser first collaborated with Dr. Sidney Garfield to provide
medical care for the construction workers on the Grand Coulee Dam project in eastern Washington, they
could scarcely have envisioned that it would attain the size and have the impact on medical care in the
United States that it has today.
largest, one of the oldest, and certainly the most influential group practice prepayment health plan in the
nation. But in 1938, when Henry J. and Edgar F. Kaiser first collaborated with Dr. Sidney Garfield to provide
medical care for the construction workers on the Grand Coulee Dam project in eastern Washington, they
could scarcely have envisioned that it would attain the size and have the impact on medical care in the
United States that it has today.
The Jeepster was a convertible about half-way between a military Jeep and a sports car. This two wheel drive
vehicle was only made from 1948 to 1950, but was resurrected by AMC in the '60's as the Jeepster Commando.
Some people point out that the Jeepster was technically a phaetom, not a convertible. A phaeton was a type of
two-door touring car without a solid top. To the common man, phaeton doesn't mean much.
The wagon and pickup truck were available in both 2WD and 4WD with a 4-cylinder or 6-cylinder engine. Kaiser
bought Willys-Overland in 1953 and dropped "Overland" from the name. In the 1956, Willys introduced
snub-nosed forward control models. Production of Willys wagons and trucks continued under the name of the
Willys Motor Company until 1963, when the name was changed to the Kaiser-Jeep Corporation. Production of the
Willys wagons and trucks continued for two more years until 1965. Willys had production facilities in Brazil,
Argentina, Israel, and India, and Japan. Some of these continued making vehicles that were essentially the same as
the Utility vehicles for several more years. But eventually Kaiser sold these. Thus ended the production of those
interesting vehicles we call Willys.
vehicle was only made from 1948 to 1950, but was resurrected by AMC in the '60's as the Jeepster Commando.
Some people point out that the Jeepster was technically a phaetom, not a convertible. A phaeton was a type of
two-door touring car without a solid top. To the common man, phaeton doesn't mean much.
The wagon and pickup truck were available in both 2WD and 4WD with a 4-cylinder or 6-cylinder engine. Kaiser
bought Willys-Overland in 1953 and dropped "Overland" from the name. In the 1956, Willys introduced
snub-nosed forward control models. Production of Willys wagons and trucks continued under the name of the
Willys Motor Company until 1963, when the name was changed to the Kaiser-Jeep Corporation. Production of the
Willys wagons and trucks continued for two more years until 1965. Willys had production facilities in Brazil,
Argentina, Israel, and India, and Japan. Some of these continued making vehicles that were essentially the same as
the Utility vehicles for several more years. But eventually Kaiser sold these. Thus ended the production of those
interesting vehicles we call Willys.
| Lets have some fun. My mother and father new Henry J and his son Edgar F. Kaiser. My brother lee with the Schoeniths Gale Race Teams competed with the Hawaii Kai unlimited hydroplane. At 13 years old I met Henry J during a trip to Hawaii in 1959. At that time I never had an idea I would drive an unlimited hydroplane, especially the famous Gale V. Kaiser owned Jeep which was sold to AMC during the 60's. Move twenty years forward Renault,a French auto manufacture bought into AMC and it became AMC Jeep/Renault. Once again never thought I would become an owner of an unlimited hydroplane I built one in 1982 and got Jeep/Renault to sponsor it in addition to win and still hold the 20th century title of UIM Unlimited Hydroplane Would Champion. For me the tie in started with gift of a model boat in 1958, and then a ride in a pink 1n 1959 while I was touring Hawaii to now 2008, filling out a survey for The Kaiser Family Foundation due to turning 65. A 50 year circle of events that has made up part of my life. This is the reason the Hawaii Kia model will only be sold to a knowledgeable collector thay knows the history of the Kaiser family. |