I thought the only real Charger 500 were 1969 HEMI cars with flush grille & roof plug, short deck lid.
IMO, w/o flush grille & roof plug/short deck lid, it is not a 500, but i dont know Mopah' history in & out.
I'm with you on this. It is sorta like the 300 letter series cars. They were special in their day and the name lived on to perhaps sell more cars. The 70 500 charger was just a trim addition using the 500 tag to sell.