I'd one of these in the 70's but it got broken during a bar brawl when someone put their foot through it. I really missed it.

I managed to get another from ebay, for a mere 76 quid. I've got it tuned to Open D and it's my favourite guitar now ;-)

To address the original question I've never seen dates anywhere on Ekos, but I don't recall seeing any in the early 60's and I'm pretty sure (but not 100%) that they vanished from the shelves around the mid 80's. Certainly their greatest popularity was in the 70's, and most folk I know associate the Eko Rangers, 6 and 12 string, with the 70's.

They frequently turn up on ebay, sometimes for very silly prices, and sometimes quite reasonable prices.

Wrinkles