YMR History

In February of 2001 we registered the YellowMustangRegistry.com domain and built some new web pages to help display a few Yellow Mustangs throughout the site. By May of ’01 we were at a whopping total of 175 members (which at the time was a huge achievement but compared to today is a small fraction). Yellow owners all across the continent were submitting their car details to be placed on our unique registry. But even though the site was evolving, it was still lacking something…the ability for the members of the YMR to converse with one another.

The Forums
Nov. 2001 was a major landmark for YMR as we worked out a deal with Stangnet’s owner, Mike Raburn, to allow us a special forum in his Stangnet messageboardfor the Yellow Mustang Registry. This was a monumental addition as it provided all yellow owners a means of discussing topics related to our rare color cars. Owners were able to meet other owners with similar ideas and share modifications they had done. By posting their own photos and stories, other members can get a better idea of how things will look on their own yellow rides. At the time this forum was put into place, we were at a steady 350 members strong.

The first gathering of yellow
As 2002 came around, we had bigger and better plans for the Yellow Mustang community. We entered the year with 413 members. With the message board already booming with posts about potential gatherings and car shows especially for us, we started to look for our first possible Yellow Mustang exclusive events. Feb 16th was the first yellow gathering on record, which took place in Orlando, FL. My wife, Jennifer, and I drove 9 hours to Orlando for the Mid Florida Mustang Club’s annual Mustang show. While there we planned to get a grouping of Yellow Mustangs together after the show for a photo shoot. We had 10 yellows come over after the show. It was quite the site to see a whole row of yellow’s together. Even though our last minute preparation and lack of space were issues, the smile on everyone’s faces was enough to put a thousand ideas in my head.

The First Shows in 2002
Our next move was to coordinate a car show of our very own. May 25, 2002 was set as the date it would happen in Gastonia, NC. We went through quite a bit of stress worrying about whether enough cars would show up to make our first ever show a complete success. (By April we had 600 members.) We stayed positive and dropped tons of flyers on area Mustangs to ensure everyone knew about it. Show day came and we had 23 cars enter the show. Enough to pull off a successful first meet! The photos of this event were enough to get all of the members excited about being a part of something this exclusive. The website was now only an underlying foundation for what really was important…meeting all of the other members and having a good time getting together in an obsession that only we could share.

Soon to follow, we had a Yellow Cruise in Carlisle, PA with 32 yellow ‘Stangs attending which turned out to be the largest gathering for 2002! The local newspaper even had us on front page news. August 17 was the final show for the year in Tulsa OK, with members driving out from over 900 miles away.

Magazine Coverage
2003 quickly became the year of YMR print articles. Every magazine on the bookshelf picked up a story about the YMR. From 5.0 Magazine, MM&FF Magazine, MCA Times, Mustang Enthusiast, and more. They all told the story of one of our yellow Mustang meets, in print for everyone to remember.

The new Forums
In 2003, we also made another monumental move with YMR, by purchasing a license for Vbulletin software. This enabled us to make the move from being a parasite to Stangnet’s forums, to having our very own forums housed on YMR’s server.

Conclusion
So if you haven’t figured it out yet, there is some type of bond between owners of yellow Mustangs. We all share the same passion, or as some call it, obsession, for the love of our cars. For some, it comes in the form of showing it at car shows, for others it’s racing them on a track. The YMR simply gives owners another reason to justify their bright yellow purchase by having other folks to be sociable with. Typically the characteristics of enthusiasts who wish to own a yellow muscle car are very similar. And this creates a great social community, more so than most people realize.

So if you’re still asking yourself why owning a yellow Mustang is so important, I guess you’ll just have to own one to understand the obsession we all have. Or if that doesn’t do it for you, then passing by 50 yellow Mustangs rumbling through a stoplight is sure to do the trick… See you at the next event!

There is no end in sight to the madness that is now known as YMR.