Syracuse, NY - The Pennellville man who converted an old milk tanker into an ocean-and-land-going vehicle, drove and sailed it to 28 countries and landed on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” is selling his latest dream.

Rick Dobbertin has hung an electronic “for sale” sign on his prototype HydroCar amphibious vehicle, asking $777,000 for the machine he’s been building and testing for nearly a decade.

The car creator, perhaps best known locally for building the Dobbertin Surface Orbiter, posted his new HydroCar on eBay on Dec. 23. Bidders have until 9 p.m. Thursday to match the price or make an acceptable offer.

The sale price includes a 2009 custom built, tri-axle gooseneck trailer to tow the vehicle, not to mention approximately 18,800 hours of the builder’s sweat.

It’s taken three times as much time and money to develop the HydroCar than he expected in 2002, when he launched the project, Dobbertin said. Even so, there are still bugs to work out.

The time has come, he said, to get out from under it.

“I’m selling it because ... the real reason is, I’ve got a really great wife,” Dobbertin said. He and Mary wed about two years before he began working on the HydroCar.

“I’m 58 years old, and I’d rather spend time with her than on a car project,” he said. “My wife has been so good through this whole thing. But she’s had to sacrifice. It’s a project that got out of hand, and there’s got to be an end to it.”

To finance the HydroCar, Dobbertin sold several other vehicles he had built, including the Surface Orbiter, a 1959 milk tank truck that he transformed into a 32-foot amphibious craft. He and his then-wife, Karen, planned to drive and sail it around the world, completing the trip in a year.

Mechanical, legal and money troubles dogged the trip. The Orbiter left the state fairgrounds in December 1993. But the transmission broke during its maiden ocean voyage, and the Orbiter had to be towed back to shore.

The part replaced, the couple eventually island-hopped the Caribbean Sea to South America, logging 33,000 miles on land and 3,000 on the ocean through 28 countries and 38 states.

The adventure, strung over 2½ years, brought them fame but eroded their finances and marriage. The Surface Orbiternow belongs to Chuck Parsons, a Chicago-area car collector who bought the machine in 2004 for an undisclosed price.

By then, Dobbertin was remarried and two years along in construction of the HydroCar.

The idea, Dobbertin said, was to build the most high-tech craft among a new generation of amphibious cars then on drawing boards around the world — one cool enough to attract customers willing to shell out up to $200,000 to own one. He was aiming at top speeds of 50 mph afloat and 125 mph on land.

Dobbertin designed the HydroCar to transform from land mode to water mode at the flip of a switch. The aluminum body is painted 2006 Corvette Velocity Yellow. It is 268.5 inches long and 96 inches wide without the auxiliary wings that help it float. A 572-cubic-inch Chevrolet racing engine provides the power.

But let the buyer beware — the HydroCar remains in test mode. The vehicle had some issues keeping its nose above water during the first three water tests. That problem appeared solved in the fourth test, but now its back end sat too low because it retained too much water in the rear wheel wells, effectively dragging on the craft like an anchor.

Dobbertin said he thinks that, with additional changes he’s made, the craft would have exceeded 50 mph on the waves during a fifth test that was planned for this spring.

Dobbertin first put the HydroCar on eBay in October, seeking $1 million.

No one bite at that price after 21 days. On Dec. 23 he relisted it on eBay for another three-week trial. He picked $777,000 because the number sounded lucky, he said.

His friends find it hard to believe that he has no new projects in mind, but he really doesn’t, Dobbertin said. He’s now employed developing prototypes of automotive gear for Spectre Performance, a California company.

’’I want to get rid of it,” he said, referring to the HydroCar. “As long as I have it I’ll think, ‘Oh, what if I did this?’ and I’ll get out there and tinker on it more. I just can’t do that.”

Contact John Mariani at jmariani@syracuse.com or 470-3105.