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The T85 20mm Multiple Gun Motor Carriage combined a quad 20mm mount with the expanded M5 Light Tank chassis originally developed for the T16 4.5in Gun Motor Carriage.
A number of attempts were made to mount alternative guns on the chassis of the M3 and M5 Light Tanks, but they all failed because of a lack of space. In 1942 Cadillac designed an alternative chassis, based on the M5A1 Light Tank but lengthened and given a third two-wheel bogie on each side. This modified M5A1 chassis became the basis of a family of weapons sometimes called the Light Combat Team.
The T85 and T85E1 were both armed with a quad 20mm anti-aircraft gun, carried at the rear of the M5 Light Combat Team chassis. They used different 20mm gun mounts but were otherwise similar. The two vehicles were completed in June 1944, and went for trials, but by this date the M5 Light Combat Team concept had been abandoned in favour of a similar scheme based on the M24 Light Tank (Chaffee). Some work was done on converted the T85 to the new chassis, but didn’t go beyond the design stage. Work on the T85 stopped after the initial trials.