Lucie Dasse, a pioneer lady driver
Looking at period pictures of old cars, one sometimes wishes to have been born 100 or more years ago, to have eyewitnessed the birth of the motorcar. Or even have participated its inception...
In Belgium, it would have helped if you were a hands-on person not only in the obvious cities with long-time experience in engineering like Liège (FN), Antwerp (Minerva), and Charleroi (Germain, Métallurgique), but also in some smaller places.
When Gérard Dasse, a mechanic from Verviers built his first motorcar at the end of the 19th century, its mechanics were based on Benz lines. It was very much a prototype, and mainly used as a proof-of-concept machine.
Gérard Dasse received much help in the construction of his vehicles from his sons Yvan and Armand. But the interest of today goes to their sister Lucie, the gorgeous lady who figures in the two pictures shown here. She must have been one of the first Belgian lady drivers and her clothing was not untypical for the lady motorist of that day.
She is seen on the second Dasse car, developed around 1895, a tricycle with two front wheels. Dasse plumbing background is visible in the chassis design, where the horizontal engine takes a central position with belt-drive to the rear wheel. A water reservoir acts also as the rear mudguard, and the seats are already suspended, but the spoking of the wheels is still radial.
The Dasse family went on to build many types of vehicles including racers, lorries and buses. They also even started a school for mechanics and foundry. The company eventually closed in 1956. Armand died in the same year, Yvan in 1964. Not much more is known about the life of the lovely Lucie Dasse, but we’d love to hear if any reader does !
Words and photos: Nick Jonckheere |
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A pioneer lady driver, Lucie Dasse
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