This is an original Battle Action Tank from Action Park, the notorious theme park in New Jersey. It has an air-powered cannon that fires tennis balls, operated from the single seat in the cockpit.
📌 The Core Development
10 of these tanks were made in total, they were all equipped with targets around the outside, and when a target was hit on the outside of a tank, that tank would be disabled for 15 seconds. The example you see here has been restored, it’s in full working condition, and it’s now being offered for sale.
Above Video: This is the short documentary “The Most Insane Amusement Park Ever” by Matt Robertson, it’s all about Action Park and it includes interviews with people who went to the park as kids when it was still operating.
🔍 Background & Sector Context
Action Park operated out of Vernon Township in New Jersey, from 1978 through to 1996. In its early years, the insurance certificates it filed with state ride regulators came from a sham Cayman Islands company its owner had set up. No aboveboard insurance company would cover the theme park, so a workaround was found. It was a pattern of questionable behavior that would come to define almost every aspect of the park’s operations.
Eugene “Gene” Mulvihill, a securities broker who controlled the Vernon Valley/Great Gorge ski area, opened the 2,700 foot Alpine Slide down one of its trails in 1976. Alpine Slide sleds ran down concrete and fiberglass chutes, with a single lever controlling their brakes. The idea, as Mulvihill’s son Andy later said, was to give guests a skier’s control over their own speed.
📊 Industry & Real-World Impact
Reports for 1984 and 1985 listed 14 fractures and 26 head injuries on the slide. That might sound bad, but compared to what was to come later it seemed like merely a blip on the radar.
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🔮 Strategic Outlook & What Lies Ahead
Mulvihill formally opened Action Park on July the 4th, 1978. It had a slew of attractions, and more were added regularly. The Tidal Wave Pool opened in 1981, it was chaos, and lifeguards logged up to 30 rescues a day.
The Cannonball Loop, an enclosed tube slide with a vertical loop, was built in 1983, and employees were offered $100 to test it. In 1985 the state’s ride-safety advisory board shut it down due to the number of injuries it had caused.
