Citroen XM on the streets of Bydgoszcz in 1993. Compared to other cars, it looked like a spaceship

The Citroen XM, which was first shown in 1989, was long considered an unusual car, to say the least. The wedge shape of this car, sometimes called the fastest steel in the world, stood out. The car impressed not only with its appearance, but above all with the comfort of hydropneumatic suspension, space and excellent seats. In the streets of Polish cities it made the biggest impression, especially when we go back in time.

The year is 1993, Dworcowa Street in Bydgoszcz. Cars from the era of the Polish People’s Republic are still driven on uneven pavement, even though we imported a lot of used cars from the West. A Citroen XM is parked next to the publishing house site at number thirteen. If you look at the recording posted online by an Internet user, you can see some passers-by looking at this spaceship, which is not in keeping with the modern car industry of the time. Around 8 minutes and 40 seconds, the operator quickly approaches a man with a shopping bag, who, while crossing the road, keeps his eyes on XM for a long time.

In addition to motorization, we can also admire the fashion shows of that time – nylons, strange color combinations, completely different hairstyles. The recent and the long ago… The time travel we capture with a VHS camera may not be of the highest quality, but the memories have a unique flavor.

The operator returns to XM in the ninth minute of the film. Although he used to shoot a lot of architecture, now he seems to be interested in cars. Now we have a close-up, then the camera moves around in search of the fair sex, to which the eye of the person holding the camera also seems to be sensitive. If you watch the film for a long time, you will see small cars parked, big Fiats, Nysas, Beetles… the image of Polish cars is far from what we know today.

10m34s of movie pass and… we have XM again. This time the car flows gracefully along Gdańska Street, but does not go east but north. Apparently there must be some civilization there…

I invite you to go back in time: