Self-made multi-millionaire Branko Kavcic loves expensive toys — the more outlandish, the better.

His eclectic collection includes a “priceless” 1969 Stutz Blackhawk prototype, once driven by his idol, Elvis Presley; a $100,000 monster truck; three racing boats and a hulking black 48-foot yacht.

For months now, Kavcic has been trying to buy his most audacious trophy yet — a landmark that would perfectly anchor, so to speak, his life’s work.

Last August 3, Kavcic, 66, offered almost $1 million to buy the 90-metre waterfront relic, Captain John’s, a ship that decades ago sailed the coast of his native Slovenia.

Kavcic says he’s still prepared to spend up to $3 million buying and refurbishing the 55-year-old ship, the Jadran, and turning it into an entertainment venue and restaurant.

The biggest stumbling block is Toronto Port Authority officials, who say they are hopeful of finding a buyer for the derelict ship, but have been “nothing but negative,” says Kavcic.

The problem is that Kavcic’s offer is conditional on something owner John Letnik can’t provide, and the Toronto Port Authority says it won’t: A 15-year lease on a new slip to the east of its long-time Yonge St. location.

“The downtown is finished for us. It’s for a different kind of building now,” says Kavcic, in his thick Slovenian accent, referring to the upscale condos and ongoing revitalization of the easterly waterfront. “We can’t have boats in there anymore. It’s getting too expensive.”

Kavcic’s deal, which was good for 30 days, included $673,000 for the 90-metre boat and a 20 per cent stake in the venture for Letnik, worth about $240,000.

The money would have paid much of the outstanding taxes and lease payments Letnik owes the City of Toronto and the Port Authority.

He sent copies of the offer, and conditions, on Aug. 17 to the Port Authority, the Fords and Waterfront Toronto and asked for a meeting “to discuss the future for Captain John’s ship and … a renewed relationship with the City of Toronto.”

He got a form email back from the mayor’s office, promising “to make sure you get the respect you deserve.” It took until October 17 — a month after the deal deadline had expired — to get a formal response from the Port Authority which said no long-term lease was possible, but a meeting would be welcome if he was looking to move the ship to a location other than Toronto’s waterfront, or have it scrapped.

Kavcic has yet to have a face-to-face meeting with any city or waterfront officials.

“We’d be happy to meet with him,” said Port Authority lawyer Mark Richardson Wednesday, whose involvement so far has been a few emails and phone calls through to last November, and a missed connection in May.

“In my experience, my dealings with him so far, you wonder whether he really was serious.”

Kavcic is, by his own admission, highly skilled at making precision parts for the oil and injection molding industries. He’s grown his Vaughan-based Brado Precision Machine & Tool Co. Ltd. into a lucrative international business since moving to Canada in 1967 and founding the company in 1974.

He’s less certain how to navigate government.

Civic officials quietly admit that they are just as frustrated. Even if the Port Authority was able to find an alternative spot, the ship would need parking, water, sewage services to handle visitors — and that’s where the whole proposal becomes unworkable.

Up until this week, Kavcic has continued tilting at windmills. He recently spent $3,000 on a marine survey which says it is of minimal value even as scrap. The kitchen would take major work to bring up to health standards, it notes.

Kavcic seems to be coming to terms with the fact his dream may be sunk: The survey disclosed the ship isn’t mired in muck, but floating six to eight inches higher in Lake Ontario than it once did because Letnik has stripped so many of its contents.

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Most of that was done in the 1980s, says Letnik, when wooden sleeping cabins were removed from the lower levels.

He admits, however, that since last fall he’s also removed anything of value, including brass portholes and elaborately carved wooden panels.

“What else can I do?” says Letnik with a shrug. “I don’t have a deal yet and I don’t have an income. I need the money.”

Correction - July 11, 2013: This article was edited from a previous version that included an incorrect photo caption that said Slovenia is now part of Croatia.