For 1971, the Mercury Cougar was transformed from a luxury-leaning ponycar into a  personal luxury coupe.

While the 1967 Cougar didn’t sell in the same vast numbers as the Mustang, its Ford corporate stablemate in the ponycar class, by Lincoln-Mercury standards it was a blockbuster. Equipped and marketed as a luxury-leaning ponycar, the Cougar brought home more than 40 percent of the Mercury brand’s volume in ’67. The L-M division continued to tune the successful formula over the nex few years, dialing up the luxury theme, toning down the performance elements. And when a redesigned Cougar was introduced for 1971, it wasn’t really a ponycar anymore.

While the ’71 Cougar was still based on the Mustang’s unit-construction platform, it was significantly longer, wider, and heavier than previous Mercury ponycars. Its wheelbase was 112 inches, the same as a Chevelle, and it’s said Ford engineers used GM’s mid-sized A-body cars as the Cougar’s competitive benchmark rather than the Camaro or Firebird. The price was grown up as well at $3,289 to start. While Motor Trend’s editors described the ’71 Cougar “a car in search of an identity,” in hindsight the truth is pretty clear. Here was yet another entry in the expanding personal luxury coupe category.

Two models made up the ’71 product line: the base Cougar and the XR-7, with the latter adding another $340 worth of comfort and appearance features. This brought the list price up to $3,629, well into Chevrolet Monte Carlo territory. In contrast to the endless choices of the muscle years, there were three available engines: the standard 351 CID V8 with 240 hp, a premium fuel 351 CID V8 with 285 hp, and the 429 CID, 370 hp Super Cobra Jet V8. A GT option package (the Cougar Eliminator was discontinued) included chassis upgrades and a sportier 3.23:1 rear axle ratio for $129.

While a convertible was still offered in both the base model and XR-7, they sold in  small numbers—3,440 units, around 5 percent of the production total. Ragtop sales remained flat throughout the three years of the ’71 design cycle, and when the Cougar was redesigned again for the ’74 model year, the convertible was discontinued. The 1974 Cougar, essentially a Montego coupe dressed up with a Lincoln-ish grille, would owe nothing to previous Cougars except its name.