I'd not have called the usage rare, just situations that call for it. Maybe it is and I've just not noticed, though?

[EDIT] notably, I think it occurs pretty often in recent movies, mostly referring to cars, ships, and space-ships. Not just period pieces, either.

My impression is that the majority of people no longer use it, but you see it often enough that I wouldn’t call it “rare”.

I think it's common in colloquial speech but rarely used in formal speech these days.