I just got my Road and Track and it has some good news. They have a pg dedicated to issues in the last months mag or 2 months back. On pg 32 they have a great pic of the Chally. There are lots of tidbits from readers all pretty much begging and pleading for the car to be built. No surprise there
anyway here is R & T's response.
The Challenger Prototype offered for photography was set up w/ a manual tranny pedal array. Whats planned for production,however,is a 6 speedautomatic. 
BTW , The Challenger proved to be the most popular topic in a long time.
Well there you have it, some good news and some bad. I need something from them though. I am not holding out forever, I have to make plans to grab this or get on the list for the E92 08 M3.