rivets tended to pop off inside the interior in a deadly ricochet when the tank was hit by a non-penetrating round), the smooth track design, insufficient armor plating and lack of splash-proofing of the joints. The British desired modifications for the tank they were purchasing. A bustle rack was to be made at the back of the turret to house the Wireless Set No. 19. The turret was to be given thicker armor plate than in the original U.S. design, and the machine gun cupola was to be replaced with a simple hatch. Extended space within the turret of the new M3 also allowed the use of a smoke bomb launcher, although the addition of the radio would take the space for storage of fifty 37 mm rounds, reducing the ammunition capacity to 128 rounds. Several of these new "Grant" tanks would also be equipped with sand shields for action in North Africa, though they often fell off. With these modifications accepted the British ordered 2,000 Grants, although only 1,685 were built. Contracts were arranged with 4 US companies for 500 tanks each: Baldwin Locomotive Co, Pullman Standard Car Co, Pressed Steel Car Co and Lima Locomotive Co. The total cost of the orders was approximately US$240 million, including funds for factory re-tooling. That was the total of all UK Government funds held in the US; it took the US Lend-Lease act to solve the financial shortfall and fund future equipment orders. The order with Baldwin was later increased from 500 to 685. Lima did not produce a single Grant against their contract as it took them so long to complete steam locomotives in production to create factory space and to tool-up that M3 production was winding down before they were ready. It was therefore agreed that they would supply 500 of the new M4 Sherman instead. Lima actually undertook the T6/M4 development while they were unable to manufacture the Grant and as the other companies were all too busy, and became the first company to begin producing the M4 in March 1942 with the M4A1. The first 28 M4A1s were British contract tanks as Grant replacements but the remainder of the order was subsumed into Lend-Lease. The prototype was completed in March 1941 and production models followed, with the first British-specification tanks produced in July. Both U.S. and British tanks had thicker armor than first planned. The British design