Pininfarina was founded on 22 May 1930 in Turin, when Battista 'Pinin' Farina opened Carrozzeria Pinin Farina with backing that included his friend Vincenzo Lancia. The house became, by its own historical record, the first in the automotive industry to apply a scientific approach to aerodynamics, and its post-war Cisitalia 202 was the first car ever admitted into a museum's permanent collection.

By the 1970s, Pininfarina was responsible for nearly every Ferrari road car. The decade's wedge era, the 365 GT4 Berlinetta Boxer, the 308 GTB, replaced Ferrari's soft curves with low, cab-forward volumes that favoured a different kind of headlight: one that could fold flat into the nose at rest and rise only when needed. That single styling decision is the reason the badge earlier in this issue exists at all.