As an ex. bus driver from the period so have I
Oh I had forgotten about them, I remember coming to drive one, looked at little gear stick R - D, 1 - 2, 3 - 4 so not going to mess around, so put it in D, all that happened was the doors opened.
Rover 3500 was 3 speed, but first was only selected for towing, as standard used second and third only, but the torque converter resulted in each gear being like having two gears, but losses through the torque converter were huge, a 2 CV could do 60 MPG and a Morris Minor was around the 40 mark, so there has not been that much gain MPG wise over the years, we could do it years ago, however the Fords were rather poor, and most automatics had massive engines, and were really fuel hungry.
I was looking at the spec for my old tow car, and Austin Gypsy around 65 brake horse, 8 forward gears, did around 30 to gallon, today Kia Sorento around 165 brake horse, 10 forward gears, does around 60 to the gallon, OK can't select front or rear wheel drive, and there is no option for a PTO, but I will tell you which one I want to drive, OK could go around the Classic car shows with Gypsy, select front wheel drive pull up hand brake and pivot on rear wheels, but why would you want to?
Yes I pulled caravans up Sutton Bank with the Gypsy, with a gear to spare, can't do that with Sorento, but only because no longer allow to.