Your wish is my command.
Here’s how I found the answer: I bought the damn thing. 
And where did you find the model number on the Mac itself? About This Mac? System Information? Using Magnifier on an iPhone to read the fine print on the back of the Mac? 
It’s literally printed on the box. Sometimes the most low-tech solution is the simplest.
Heh. For me to see a box (which I do keep) would required pulling down the stairs to the attic and rummaging around in decades of old boxes, so I’d never think of doing that to find information.
Wow. It appears that Apple’s been doing this for a long time. The box for my old iBook G4 also has the model number on the product label (along with the serial number and other related info.)
(I have that box on a shelf in my office because I’m using it to store the computer.)
For what it’s worth, I agree that MacTracker is quite useful for this. For registering products, I often use the box to get the model and serial information. When looking at my Macs, I couldn’t find the model identifier using any of the standard modifiers against the ‘About This Mac’ window (although the serial number was there, and clicking the System level did reveal the full system id).
The Magnifier on the iPhone is a quite useful tool for reading small and low-contrast print on a device. For example, here is the screen image of the Magnifier reading the information on my 2018 MacBook Pro. Note that I used the Retouch tool within the edit selection from Apple Photos to ‘disappear’ the serial number.
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That label on the box that has the serial no., the model number, the config, the MAC addresses, etc. is something I snap a picture of the moment I get a new Mac. I’m way too lazy to google this kind of information or go rummaging in my basement.