Before I make any other statements, I acknowledge your affinity for Ford products. That in itself (as you proclaimed in your initial post here) slants your opinion. But that's okay. I can appreciate your loyalty.

The fact is that the Mustang has been "the only (pony car) game in town" since 2002. That accounts for the majority of it's success. No special loyalty, marketing, or "edition" is required when one has a monopoly on a market/segment. Kudos to Ford for recognizing that and making the most of it. GM and Chrysler are late getting on the boat.
What I call a "limited edition" is 5000 or fewer cars. With over 10,000 2007 GT500's alone - not counting all of the other "variants" - I wouldn't call that a limited edition, but that's only MY opinion.

If the buyer of the #2 '07 Shelby wasn't aware of how many were being produced, as well as how many other variations Ford and partners would create, I'd say he should be pretty p*$$#d off - the value of his "collectable" is worth far less that he had originally hoped/planned, so his investment will be very difficult to recover at ANY time. Aditionally, he had a very good idea of what the production car would look like since the GT was already being produced/sold, and the Shelby has ALWAYS looked agressive, but similar, with the addition of cosmetic bolt-ons/embellishments, suspension improvements, and more HP under the hood.

When Chrysler LLC releases the Challenger (which we still haven't seen a production car of ANY kind), I expect dealers to get whatever they can for them, and yes, I'm sure (initially) they'll be over MSRP. But Dodge won't mark up the Challenger - the dealerships will and at their own risk. I won't pay over sticker for a car - never have, never will. I will not be gouged for a car that will be worth 20% less than sticker as soon as I drive it off of the lot. What you call "the big boys" are simply people with more money than sense and insist on having what they want NOW, regardless of how much it costs. There will ALWAYS be people like that, but they're far fewer in numbers than the rest of us, and Chrysler (as well as Ford and GM) know that.

Challenger numbers are in question, no doubt. What's even more difficult to digest is the same quandry that faced the buyer of Shelby MustangGT500 #2 - what MIGHT be offered in the next model year? How many will be SRT8's? What can I expect for a drivertrain combo in ALL levels? How many levels will there be? Will the 6.4L be available in a production vehicle?

As far as "stealing market share" from the Mustang, you could look at it as Chrysler has "given" their market share to Ford for the last three years (with the remodeling of the Mustang in '05) and is set to reclaim it with the Challenger in '08. It's purely a matter of semantics, but there WILL be other dancers on the floor very soon. There should be plenty of buyers to satisfy Chrysler, Ford AND GM with a great number of baby-boomers reaching their financial summits now.

No matter WHO makes WHAT, if the product and price isn't right, people will buy something else. It's that simple, and any marketing guru working for the big three is painfully aware of that already.
"Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door," (Ralph Waldo Emerson). I agree! But through February of 2008, there's only been ONE mousetrap available. We'll see who has what sitting on the lot for their "year end clearance sales" in the fall of 2009.