The M59 was an American armored personnel carrier that entered service in the spring of 1954 replacing the M75.

It had three key advantages over the M75; it was amphibious, had a lower profile, and was considerably cheaper to produce.

Development work on a replacement for the M75 began in late 1951, with the Food Machinery and Chemical Corporation producing a number of prototypes.

The unreliability of this power system and reduced armor protection provided, were the major disadvantages of this APC compared to the M75.

The drive train consists of twin GMC Model 302 6-cylinder inline gasoline engines, each developing 146 hp at 3600 rpm.

135 gallons (511 liters) of fuel could be carried, giving it a road range of approximately 120 miles (150 km).

The M84 only carried a crew of six, but weighed 47,100 lbs (21,400 kg) because of the mortar and the combat load of 88 rounds.