That poor thing looks like hammered crap - what a shame.
I guess the options & color helped a lot with the bids, but $40,000 is nuts.
That assumes, though, that the bids were legit and not shills.
I really doubt it came from SoCal with that much lower rust.

As for resto vs done - my own experience is that a very nice original low-mileage car is less expensive all-in than other scenarios.
But that depends on sanity, which is a whole 'nother thing...