The US Ordnance board managed the production of four prototypes, the main goal being to have the new tank share many common parts with the M26 Pershing.

Work began in early 1945 to develop a significantly heavier variant of the M26 Pershing.

The T32E1 variant eliminated weak spots in the frontal armor, including removing the hull mounted machine gun.

As a result of all the changes, the M26 chassis had to be expanded, with an extra road wheel added on each side, bringing the total to seven, to reduce the ground pressure due to the tank's increased weight.

After the end of World War II, the project was cancelled and the vehicles were scrapped.