I'm going to stay out of the conversation on where this vehicle has spent its life...but to the OP, I get it. I picked mine up on BAT 3 years ago...did I pay a premium, most likely, but I got a great rig out of the deal that I plan to keep for a long time. When I bought mine, I basically got the bug for the 80 and came across the auction for mine. I hadn't done the research on MUD (didn't even know about MUD), or any real research on them...I just loved the idea of a super capable truck that I could still work on (and had a crush on since they came out but I couldn't afford at that time). With my auction, I did buy from a private seller that owned it for 8 years and had lots of receipts (and owned several LC's over the years including a 200 that he replaced the 80 with). The seller was very honest about everything and made me feel confident to fly from MD to AZ and do a road trip back home. All worked out for me and I'm still 110% happy with my purchase.
Quick story on BAT...I bought my 80 there, so I had a feel from the buyer's side of the table. A year later, a good friend had a 10th anniversary Mazda RX7 that he wanted to sell. He was the original owner, 88k mile car, garage kept, photos looked immaculate (he paid a BAT photographer to take pics). There were some known issues that, while not major, would have been nice for a buyer to know and reported in his writeup for the listing. When the listing came up, a lot of this info was not included (per BAT writers)...they basically put 95% factory specs, and then maybe a bump for an issue here or there. Long story short, in my opinion from both sides now, it's basically up to the bidders/watchers to call out any issues that they can spy in pics or vids. BAT and the sellers are in the business to sell cars...I have a new outlook on auction sites. This is beneficial to dealers/flippers too as they may not even know themselves what they have, but can list up a polished turd if they want as long as BAT thinks it will sell.
Back to my friend's situation, he was pushed by BAT for a reserve of $20k...he wanted $24k reserve. Within a couple of minutes of the end, it hit reserve...my buddy was dying thinking it would sell for $20,100.00. Bidding war started, ended up going on for another 45 minutes and sold for $38k. Payment was wired next day by the winner, a car transporter showed up a few days later, off to CA it went. Turns out a woman bought it for her husband as a surprise gift, no questions asked.