Strother MacMinn (1918-1998) was a designer, writer and influential teacher of automotive design. He assisted in the design of automobiles at General Motors, Opel, and Oldsmobile. But his main position was as an instructor of automotive design at the distinguished Art Center College of Design in California. He was an integral figure in the establishment of Toyota’s Calty Design Research, Inc., an automotive design studio in Southern California. He also wrote design articles for automotive trade publications like Road & Track, Motor Trend, Automobile Quarterly, and Sports Car International. Additionally, he worked as an independent designer of airline seats, household products, and fiberglass boats.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. The company, established in 1802 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours and his son Eleuthere Irenee du Pont, began with the production of gunpowder. Throughout the 1900s and 1910s, the company shifted its focus away from gunpowder production and towards chemistry innovations. In the 1950s, DuPont developed an acrylic resin coating specifically for cars. It was marketed in 1956 as Lucite acrylic automobile finish lacquers.