Using the IUE satellite we obtained high resolution UV spectrograms (1200 < λ < 3200 Å) of the S Dor type variable R 71 in the LMC. The IUE observations were supplemented by coordinated groundbased high dispersion spectroscopy and by photometric observations. From these observations we derive for the minimum state of R 71 the following stellar parameters: L = 2.0 × 105 L⊙, R ≈ 81 R⊙, Teff ≈ 13 600 K. For the expanding envelope we find a surprisingly low temperature of only about 6000 K and an apparently decelerated velocity field with a maximum outflow velocity of ~ 127 km s−1. The minimum state mass loss rate is in the order of 3 × 10−7 M⊙ y−1. Our results support the suggestion that the visual light variations of the S Dor type variables are produced by strong density variations of the expanding envelopes of these objects. A detailed study is forthcoming in Astronomy & Astrophysics.