Not really a person but let me explain. In 1972 dated and later married my wife. I had a new 1972 Gold Glow Mach 1. We had a small wooden rat (very small) that we hung on the rear view mirror. It faced forward no matter how we hung it. We called it BakofRat.
We sold the car in 1976. When I bought my 71 429 Mach 1 in December 2013, my wife handed me the old guy, BakofRat, for me to hang on the rear view mirror. Brings tears to my eyes when I think of all the fun we had. The 72 is long gone but I still have Anna and now we are all three together in a cool Mach 1 again!
So our Mach 1 is named after my good friend who has waited so long to ride in a Mach 1 again and look out the windshield to see where we take him!