What You Get For Your Money

A Beautiful But Meaningful Book: Don’t let the artistic front and rear covers fool you. Don’t let the many large and sharp period photos fool you. Flat Out! The Rollie Free Story is indeed an attractive book, and well placed on your coffee table. But the book is much more than a coffee table book. With this book, you’re drawn inside the super intense Harley-Indian rivalry. Imagine how strong would be the rivalry between Harley-Davidson and Honda, if these were the only two brands you could buy today!

A Large Hard-Bound Book: The book is 9 inches high and 12 inches wide, so the page area is 35 percent greater than a typical 8 x 10 book. There are 192 pages. The equivalent page-count for an 8 x 10 book would be 259 pages. One reader says: “Don’t drop it on  your toes!”

A Big Story: There are 83,930 words, not counting the meaty photo captions. This is twice as much text as in most motorcycle books. (Indian Motorcycles – 41,000 words; Harley-Davidson Flatheads – 36,000 words).

Lots of Pictures; Many Large Pictures: The book includes 248 pictures. When you stop to think about it, the great majority of all photos are presented in horizontal format. So the book is laid out in horizontal format. The shape and dimensions (9 inch height and 12 inch width) ideally accommodate many large pictures.

A Book That Talks Back: Included with the book is a 40-minute audio CD of the last interview granted by Rollie Free, just four weeks before his passing in 1980. Free had the cockiness of General Patton and the voice of George C. Scott. Rollie made audacious claims, then showed the disbelieving author the documented evidence. Free was born in 1900, in the pre-radio era. Conversation was a major form of entertainment, and Rollie Free was a master of the medium. In his stories he plays himself (I said, “….” and the other characters (He said, “….”). As you listen to the dynamic story teller, you become immersed as he reaches back 40, 50, and 60 years and tells the stories seemingly in “real time.” You are there, with him, at Daytona Beach, at Bonneville, at the Indianapolis 500, and at many other places. The CD also includes the motor music of two historic motorcycles. The famed racer Ed Kretz Sr. fires up his 1939 Free-tuned Indian racer and revs it to stratospheric levels, then concludes with his commentary. Book publisher Herb Harris, owner of the legendary “Bathing Suit Bike” talks about the first un-streamlined 150 mph motorcycle, then starts the bike and plays tachometer games. A buyer says, “The CD alone is worth the price of the book.”

A Book Autographed By The Author: The author will autograph the book any way you wish. One book, autographed for a man the author hadn’t previously met, included the inscription “To my best friend….” The buyer said, “I have all my books autographed this way.”

A Book That’s An Instant Collectible: Scan the internet for Jerry Hatfield’s out-of-print books, and you will see that they sell for as much as ten times the cover price.

A Book That Touches You: A fan relates: “Your book stirred such powerful emotions, that I could not help but shed tears…. I cannot thank you enough.” Another says: “I will wear the pages out if I live long enough to read it as many times as it takes to inhale all the joy….”