I believe that standards were made to get rid of the left over inventory VW had and to create the cheapest beetle that they could. they probably had many mixed up parts 
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Nope, swing axle transmissions weren't \"leftover\" parts. Remember that IRS cars were a small minority of Beetle production around the world. But you are right about saving money. Swing axle is cheaper to manufacture, and VW of Canada brought them in to compete against the new Japanese cars (Datsun 510, et.al.) I bet that orange car does not have chrome trim in the window rubber too. The build spec of those cars was carefully planned out by the marketing dept at VW of Canada to balance features with price. I bet that 72 doesn't have a gas heater in it either. If you wanted more features, you got a Super, which, in Canada, came stock with a gas heater in 72.
When you are building 4000 cars a day at Wolfsburg, there are no parts \"left over\". They don't have any space for excess inventory, and any manufacturing co knows that inventory is a waste of money. So to combat this they try to achieve just-in-time delivery of parts. They order what they know they need, no more, no less.
Hans, in the early days they were Standards and Deluxes. Then sometime in the early 70s they realized the name \"standard\" wasn't flattering, so they officially refered to them as \"Custom\". They never ever refered to them as \"Canadian Standard\". That's just something created because the Americans can't comprehend any swing axle cars after 68.
