Automobiles and 'Model'
Clyde T. Hankey · American Speech · 1959
W HAT MODEL car do you have?' One (and an apparently widespread) response to this question suggests the development of a peculiarly American innovation in the popular use of the word model in such a context as that above. The reference here (usually clear in the situation) is to a specific fact about a full-sized automobile. Although there may be some uncertainty as to the precise information which this question seeks to elicit, it seems to get the desired response more frequently than not. I first became aware of one noteworthy use of model during such an interchange as this: