Just noticed a couple of minor errors in the chart and have corrected them. 
Yeah around that time, 08, I was driving a MAN for Brit European, it was a manual with a button on the gear knob that you pressed instead of using a clutch,.which I suppose was the link between a manual and a full auto boxā¦it was a good system too.
Next truck another MAN with the full auto boxā¦the time when āeasyā was starting to be floating my boat.
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I drove the ERF ECT with that button on the stick job. Newest lorry I ever drove (it was on an 04 plate). Basically it was a MAN like the one you had, but with a Cummins lump in it and an ERF badge. That shift was called Comfortshift. It drove me up the wall. I soon got the hang of it but I preferred to use the clutch because that was what I was used to. But every time I declutched a light and beeper came on saying āyou CAN use the button you know!ā Bloody irritatating. Also, as a habitual double-declutcher, it was difficult to get clean changes using the button, which is another reason why I preferred the foot clutch. Mercifully, they had lots of old ECs in the fleet for me to play with 
posted a chart that didnāt work - Iāll try again later 
Iāll take anything with a Cummins/Fuller/Kirkstall set up, (thatās assuming of course that I could manage to get mounted 
)
I enjoyed many hours with a 290 and a 9 speed, what more could a man want.
Happy days.
Edit :- Back in the day I got a lot of satisfaction out of a 150 Gardner with a 6 speed DB. I once took a loaded Atki UP Sutton Bank 1:4 (very naughty) Load was road salt from Winsford, half the load for halfway up the bank,the rest to be tipped at the top. Put the Atki in #1 at the bottom, the revs. on the 150 never dropped.
Todays men want 5/6/700 engines, automatic gearboxes, air sprung cabs, etc.Not for me thanks. Me ? old man, old school, no motorways. Crash gearboxes, double clutching (if you were lazy you could forget the clutch), snick the gearchanges without a whimper from the box.
Drivers took a bit of pride in the ability to do their job well.
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I suppose Iām old school also mateā¦maybe your school is a bit older than mine though.
I loved the Fuller box, I prided myself in being able to get through all gears without using the clutch, and splitting each one with a flick of the throttleā¦
Not too keen on the newer Eaton twin split though tbh, ā¦
And the DB ? although I mastered it was a pita I reckon.
I too took a pride in the job, still do to a point, but with a 10th of the enthusiasm
A bit like roping and sheeting 2 30x20s and a fly sheet on top, looked like it was gift wrapped.
So as you say crash boxes, double de clutching, roping and bloody sheeting, and going back to it?..
Nah not on YOUR nellie or everybody elseās.
Air sprung large spacious air conned comfortable cabs, and auto boxes for me all day.
Only downside is all the unnecessaary electronic dog sh catering for those who can not drive, but tbf in my Renault it aint to abundant compared to say a Merc Craptros.
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I canāt comment on the Eaton because I never used one, and PLEASE, donāt anybody mention Fodens 12 speed, I was traumatised then and I still get bad dreams, I freely admit it, I failed to master that box. 
Iāve just added another decade of choices to my chart at the top in my original post
To be fair an artic will always be a weird contraption which bends in the wrong place and doesnāt actually bend enough.
It was THE magazine article regarding MY car in better days and thatās now still sitting a bit forlorn SORNed in my garage.
Ro asked a specific question.As I read it a hypothetical would/could dream classic truck run scenario ?.I answered it with my personal choice, if only.
Thatās the point Ro.That was my dream alternative ending in line with the topic criteria ?.
This particular thread is very much about your fantasy truck (based on real life historical examples). It is a thread for real truckers, schoolboys and armchair hauliers alike. My original post encourages the reader to blend his / her top choices of long-haul truck with the model theyād choose for a last return trip to Gibraltar. So you have complete rein to choose a truck youāve never driven, or a part of the world youāve never driven to in a lorry. It doesnāt matter as long as you get to express your fantasy unit. Your example of a Detroit-powered Bedford TM 44-tonne drawbar outfit shipping to St Malo to head south is 100% legitimate on this particular thread. Enjoy!
Not sure if this counts, but I would love to have a go in one of those US bonneted or āconventionalsā as the Yanks call em, a Kenworth or a Peterbilt.
Used to love āMovin Onā and the āConvoyā film.
Iām assuming the new ones are synchro, but Iād like a shot in an older one with a Fuller fitted.
Maybe not in a full time job though.
And being that it must be mid 90s since I drove a āproper truckā with a proper box in, Iād like a (short ) nostalgic run out in a Sed Atk 401ā¦or even 400, or an ERF with a Cummins Rockwell Fuller drivelineā¦just to see if I aint lost it, and still able to make it sing.
Excellent! You may actually be able to combine those two experiences in a modern Kenworth because I believe they still use the constant-mesh Fuller 18-speed 'box, which would combine todayās comforts with old-school transmission 
You may, however, like to avoid the Route Nationale out of St Malo with that great long bonnet! 
EDIT to add that I think youād love that 18-speeder because, as I understand it, it utlilises that wonderful torque-breaking ablility of the Twin-splitter, enabling fast, effortless changes. Iād love a go with one!
You havenāt lost it, itās like riding a horse (assuming you can ride a horse ). You might fluff the first couple of changes, but it will all come flooding back to you.
Youād enjoy a conventional, the ride and access is far superior to a c/o. Trying to steer it around central London might knock the shine off it.
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The day of the totally customised truck is rapidly drawing to a close. Kenworth no longer offer a GM Detroit option as it is owned by Daimler Benz, instead Cummins is the only engine option. Paccar motor is the default in a Kenworth now. Ye Gods! A Kenworth with a Leyland/Daf power plant!!
Western Star and Freightliner, being owned by DB, only offer DD.
Automated manual RoadRanger is the default cogbox, but full manual it still an option.
So why have we only seen photos of it prior to your stewardship?
How hard would it be to take a photo of in your shed, if you own it?
For your guidance!
I would add that it helps to have driven models on your list. Or at least driven other variants of them. For instance, you might prefer a LHD version of something you enjoyed in RHD, or the Fuller version of something you drove with a Twinsplitter. Also, you might do as I did, and extrapolate: I havenāt driven an ERF MGC / 3MW but I drove ERFs that followed it and which had much the same driveline and cockpit. 
I would love to have a go in one of those US bonneted or āconventionalsā as the Yanks call em, a Kenworth or a Peterbilt.
There is a longstanding YT series called Smart Trucking, sadly the bloke who ran it died recently, but one of his latest efforts was to compare his old '90s Pete with a modern Cascadia. The latter being fully automatic. He hated the sloping bonnet of the latter, preferring the long nose of the Pete but found good and bad in both but ended up happy with his Pete.
My favourite has got to be the Magnum I drove for 3 years from new when I came to live and work here in France. Apart from the horrible ZF box I loved every minute.
If I was to go back to heavies though it would have to be an auto. I found when I started doing very high Europeanwide mileage in my car after retirement that any kind of city driving, traffic jams etc., were killing off my right shoulder and left knee. Was very glad of the change to an auto even though my previous car was superior in almost every other way. Never drove an auto lorry unless you count the Beaver back in the '70s.
I too, liked the Magnums. I drove an early one with that awful slap-across Renault/ZF shift. A much later Mack-engined 440 had a much slicker 'box and was very nice out on the road.
You Beaver presumably had a Pneumo-cyclic Leyland box did it?