M75 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC)
The first fully tracked ("boxed") infantry carriers were based on the chassis of available cargo tractors. Gradual development work led to the large and expensive M75 armored infantry vehicle. The M75 was deployed to Korea in the summer of 1953 where it was used in the final stages of the fighting. It was obvious from the outset that great numbers of these carriers were needed and a cheaper alternative was therefore necessary.
Designed to replace its post-World War II predecessors -- the open-topped, 17.5-ton M39 and the much larger M44, which rivalled a city bus in size and could carry up to 27 passengers -- the 18.8-ton M75 personnel carrier could carry about a dozen troops, including the driver. It consisted of a tracked vehicle chassis upon which was mounted a box-like superstructure, or passenger compartment, which provided all-around protection for the troops. A small number of such vehicles were used near the end of the Korean War.
Constructed from welded steel and powered by an air cooled six cylinder, horizontally opposed AO-500-4 continental petrol (gasoline) engine with CD-500-4 cross drive transmission. The M75 was one of the first of it's type of carriers developed during the post WW2 years.
Fully loaded the M75 could carry twelve men. Ten fully loaded infantrymen, it's commander and driver, thereby giving it a combat weight of 41,500lbs. The M75 was originally developed and manufactured by the International Harvester Corporation. The Food Machinery and Chemical Corporation (FMC) were brought into the production program, and a total of 1,729 vehicles were built by February 1954 when production of the M75 ceased; due in the greater part to it's high cost of 100,000 Dollars per vehicle.
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