T48 pilot #1 was designed and constructed by Chrysler Engineering to begin the APE design development at the OTAC Detroit Arsenal Test Center in December 1951. This tank was provisionally armed with the M36/T119 gun using a Y-shaped deflector and a muzzle brake. This gun was not used for production M48 tanks. It used the Mod A hull and turret designs with smaller diametered crew hatches. The driver's hatch incorporated a mechanism that dropped his three periscope heads to provide clearance for the hatch door as it swung to the right, and the driver then had to reposition the periscopes by hand once the hatch was closed again. It had 5 return rollers, 6 roadwheel pairs per side with the drive sprocket at the rear and a torsion bar suspension system.