Philip Oliver Goldsmith, a salesman for a small optical firm, founded his eyewear company in London in 1926. In 1935 his son Charles Goldsmith entered the firm with the aim of transforming glasses from a medical necessity to a fashion item. From the company’s offices in Poland Street, his sons A. Oliver and Ray Goldsmith built upon the company’s reputation for attention-grabbing designs and solicited celebrity endorsement for their products. Key clients included Lord Snowdon, the actor Diana Dors, Princess Grace of Monaco and Diana, Princess of Wales.

For this frame design, titled 'Car headlights', Oliver Goldsmith took inspiration from the hooded headlights of the Ford Zodiac. He created the frame as part of a collaboration with Hilsinger, the American aluminium company. Based outside Boston, Hilsinger specialised in the manufacture of the aluminium components used by the optical industry. With the aim of expanding their product offering they commissioned Oliver Goldsmith to design a collection of aluminium frames suitable for mass-production. Aluminium's lightweight quality had obvious appeal. However, aluminium is inflexible and cannot be soldered. These difficulties prevented the frames from being put into production. Of the roughly fifty prototypes created, 'Car Headlights' is the only prototype to survive from this collaboration.