That’s one beautiful '71 by the way!!! Forgot to mention that! 
I’ve been slowly doing little things on this Cougar. I also have been working on my convertible. I need to get it running so I can put this one on the lift and do the fuel tank R&R. I have been cleaning things and started the cleaning and polishing of the outside. I am starting with a good cleaning to remove as much crud as I can. Then clay baring it. It is removing a ton of crud.
So far I have clay bared the full trunk lid and passengers quarter panel and polished half th etrunk lid.
You can see how much better the paint ;looks here. It looked good before but it will really pop when done.
I plan to finish the work on the convertible by Saturday and swap places so I can easily get under this car. I will get a lot of pictures.
Love the clay bar…they work wonders, IMO.
Regarding the pinstripes, it looks like they were sprayed on with a stencil and the tick marks on the molding were probably to line it up.
This evening I wanted to clean up the rear license plate and reinstall it. In cleaning it up I cafully removed a large stack of year tabs and was surprised to find the original 1971 tab still in place.
Original plate to the car and original tab.
The plate had been held in place with nuts and bolts. When I picked it up a new set of the plastic nut inserts and new screws were in the console ash tray. I had knocked one of the screws under the console removeing the ash tray. So I went to fish it out and kept getting dollar bills insted.
So I ended up pulling the console, I found $10.01(Yes I also found a penny)
The bills are mostly series 1988 a couple 1985 and 1 is 1981. Not worth any more them face value.
But I think I’ll buy my lunch tomorrow.
Well, lookie there, somebody bought himself an early ATM!!!
First one I have ever found that dispenses $1.00 bills too.
Perhaps it was installed at a strip joint… 
Don’t want to hijack the thread, but there’s another nice 71 with what looks like Upbeat Cloth on craigslist:
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/cto/5212465911.html
Moved south from Washington so maybe it’s already known here? No floor mats, though.
Wow, that one is nice. Also low miles, just not a XR-7.
Minor update time. I have not been able to put much time it to this lately. My mother went in to the hospital very sick lady and went down hill from their. A week age we lost her. For the last 3 plus weeks have been a mess of activity concerning her. Spending evenings and weekends at the hospital. We will miss her dearly.
Just before the that started I started working on the fuel system. I cleaned up the top of the engine and removed the carb. I removed the top of it and it looks fine. No corrosion or other noticeable problems. So I went back to clean the last of the gasket of the intake, I did not like what I saw.
This is the lower plenum. Rust and some Black glass like deposits.
Any way, I have decided I will be removing the intake and getting it tanked. I will also get the heads rebuilt. I will be pulling the engine out of it soon. This is not a project I had in mind here. But if this Cougar is going to purr again it has to be done.
That rust is unfortunate. Sorry for your loss. Nothing can replace Mom!
Sorry to hear about your mom.
My condolences about your mom, Neal.
So sorry to hear about you mom.
What a beautiful car!
So sorry to hear of the loss of your mother, thoughts and prayers for the family.
It’s time for another update. To all of you here at the Classic Cougar Community I want to that you for the honor of having this Cougar nominated 2 times for “Ride of the Month”. I hope to have it to the point of being a Ride to enjoy bu May 2016 or so.
As I said last up date I had not been able to get much done for awhile. Well Yesterday I got back on it. I spent the day getting the engine pulled out for a rebuild. This picture is one of the main reasons I decided it should be done to make it a good reliable runner,
[url=https://flic.kr/p/AdLHzP]
As you can see, Rust. Not a good thing for an engine.
During removal I found some more original parts and marking as well as what I have all ready documented. This is the Alternator. Note the Red highlighted area ofer the stamped part number.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/zURfAT]
And when was th elast time you saw a 44 year old car with factory heater hoses?
[url=https://flic.kr/p/APrF6h]
So after a day of work here it is sitting on the stand waiting for it’s next move.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/ARJHWR]
As you can see here, I have a lot of work to do,
[url=https://flic.kr/p/AdLxYV]
It is getting to be Winter here, so I will have a lot to do in my evenings for the next few months.
I will keep you posted as I continue to revive this Cougar.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/Ag5LEa]
It will be fun.
I broke the top end off the engine today. I founds several exhaust valves that are stuck open. Even better hat I didn’t try to run it first. I have the casting numbers off of the components. It is interesting looking at them. The car was built on July 16th 1971.
The block was cast on January 14th 1971(1A17). Both heads were cast on March 30th 1971(1C30) Intake was cast on June 5th 1971(1F5) Drivers side exhaust was cast on May 13th 1971(1F13) and the passengers exhaust was cast on May 3rd 1971(1F3)
So the intake was cast just about a month before the car was built. The block about 6 months before. Of course the block needs more work done to it to make it a finished part then an intake does.
You’ve maybe already seen this, but it caught my eye. I found this ad on ebay today featuring the upbeat interior. I thought it was very cool.
Mine was blue and loved the pattern!