There were 3 basic types of Vicount and 2 basic flightdecks.
The ergonomically better 'American' flightdeck was easily distinguishable by the Fire Panels arranged along the top of the coaming panel, the two left side engine panels being separated from the right side ones by a small panel which contained minor controls and varied by type. The fire panels were perspex flaps , which lifted to expose the feathering button, fire ext. switch and LP fuel valve control.
This meant that these controls had thus been moved from the much cleaner central pedastal, where, on the original desighn(?), there was a good chance, in an emergency, that one could follow the emerg. controls back in a line from the particular HP cock and easily stop 2 engines on one side as the LP cock was not in line. Potentially quite a nuisance and, I believe, it DID happen!
The older flightdeck was certainly used in some variants up to the 833!
The improved Flightdeck was fitted to SOME variants of 700 but not the 800s.
The 800 series was something of a bastard design in that it was a mix of the 700 wing structure and engines and the larger capacity fuselage of the 810. Pilots will remember the variable Vno of the 700s and 800s which was affected by weight, fuel load and fuel loading. It was basically a short haul design, optimised by BEA for their short haul routes and subsequently taken up by KLM and Aer Lingus.
The 810 series i.e. all variants with a type number of 810 and above, had strengthened mainspars and tailplanes, along with 3-turbine engines as opposed to 2 and were one of that happy breed of aircraft where one could carry max pax and full fuel with a practical limitation of MLW only for flight planning purposes.
With the more powerful engines, one could practcally do MAN-AGP although it did take time, particularly climbing on the return leg.
A good physically clean VC8 would climb to, typically FL180 and, when heavy, would cruise at around 270 KTAS initially, which would increase to around 290 KTAS towards the end of the flight.
Ah, happy days.....