This Ford prototype had a body built by the Budd Corporation,
which stayed closer in design to the Bantam pilot model, while the Ford
engineers created a new design for the Pygmy. Perhaps Ford wanted this vehicle
as a fall-back if the Army rejected its new design. At any rate, the Pygmy was
indeed accepted for the tests at Camp Holabird, and the only significant action
seen by the Budd-bodied prototype was in parades and war bond rallies. Shortly
after the war, it disappeared until found in the California desert by Jeff
Polidoro in 1998. It joins the Pygmy as one of the only two surviving 1940 pilot
models, and will no doubt emerge from under its coat of yellow paint. (Todd
Paisley)