Steve Baker tells the tale of the Utah Teapot. (Found through another Steve’s links.)
Links in turn to the Stanford Bunny.
And what collection of digital models would be complete without Lena Sjööblom?
I first saw her in Foley & van Dam, where her face (cropped rather tight) was used to illustrate halftoning; my copy vanished in ~1982, and I now have a later edition without her (*snif*).