NEW DCs manufactured BEFORE Dec. 2000? Hmm, good luck. It's hard enough finding a new DC let alone one that was made a year and a half ago. And they sure as hell wouldn't be the usual pric of $49.99. That offer lasted about two weeks as every DC in the country was gobbled up faster than a meatloaf sitting on Opera's dinner platter.
Your best bet would to be searching eBay for like new and boxed DCs then emailing the owner to ask when he purchased it.
As for newer models running the boot disk, I have no idea.