Do you think I'm in any way defending dealerships or the people that work there? Hope not. I worked in one as a salesman for about a month. That's all I could stand - what they wanted me to do was contrary to everything I was taught growing up. Maybe that (in part) explains why the turnover is so high in that line of work.
Does that mean I think EVERY salesman at EVERY dealership is a liar, thief, or scam artist either? Nope. There's good and bad in everything - we usually find what we're looking for.
Sure, there's a tendency to prejudge people based on what they do for a living, or a myriad of other reasons for that fact. I TRY not to fall into that trap. I judge everyone on their own merits.

I've only ordered one new car in my life. The rest were bought from dealership lot inventories. My experience with that Ford dealership was excellent (the car was a piece of crap, but that's not the dealerships fault). Was that the rule, or the exception from their everyday business transactions? I have no way of knowing. I ordered the car and in three months, I took delivery. There was no way of me checking on the status of my order other than contacting the dealership back then.

So forgive me if I based my reply to you on your "inexperience" with the two other "big three" manufacturers. The way you went off on Challenger order fulfillment, it sure sounded like you had experience AND inside knowledge (from reliable sources) of the procedures at Dodge and were doomed to repeat a previous mistake.

BTW - 9,000 orders for a 2008 Challenger SRT8. Dodge confirms 6,400 will be built, which leaves roughly 2,600 customers who will not get an '08, but will (probably) be given priority for orders on '09's.
Does that sound reasonable?