Rusted out? Paint/powder coat coming off in a high wear area exposing bare metal is not rusted out. Wire brush, some primer and a good textured black spray paint would make it like new.
The 100% deposit on something that wasn't ready yet was a huge red flag 🚩 to me. It's a shame so many let their desire for a better hard top over ride their common sense. At this point demanding a refund is the only option as being a hold out is foolish. It certainly looks like it's time for...
The hard top wiring is for the wiper and rear window defrost and has nothing to do with the aux switch package which is much more than just switches. At $195 the aux switches are deal with hard wiring through out the vehicle and junction block under the hood it's an automatic must have.
As long as you look at it in person under neath and so on you should get a good idea if it's been off roaded or not. Take a mechanicly savvy friend if needed. But generally not much more risky than new.
Everybody forgot the most important thing for cold weather starting " a good battery " cold wreaks havoc on weak or tired batteries. The majority of failed cold weather starts is a low or dead battery.
True experts and Ford engineers said when a bunch of shops said they were gonna coyote swap 6g bronco's that it wasn't gonna be easy if possible at all.