Unless you got very lucky, ocarinas sold in the US in that period were only marginally usable - generally the high notes didn't sound at all. The older Fiehn and EWA ceramic ones were better, but state-of-the-art ones have only been widely available in the last 15 years or so.

Two good makers in the US are Ross Dubois (Oberon) and Kevin Wright. Many more to choose from in Europe.