The G van solution

Yesterday I was disappointed to find out that Oxford Diecast's supposedly OO scale Citroen H van was in fact HO and far too small to fit in my collection, and suggested OO modellers should avoid buying this model. I'm pleased to now report that I've found a potential solution for those who have already bought one and may be regretting it that possibly allows its use on an OO layout after all, as long as you're not hung up on historical accuracy.

Just like an H van that shrunk in the wash
(public domain image from Wikipedia)

Some further browsing of Citroenet brought to my attention the previously-unknown G van, a proposed little brother to the H from 1948 based on 2CV running gear and fitted with an enlarged 475cc version of the flat-twin engine. The most remarkable thing about this van is its styling: as can be seen in this fascinating photo, the G looks exactly like a scaled-down H with the very same pig-like snout and corrugated sides, just smaller all round!

About the same size as a 2CV

The G van never went into production and only one prototype survives in the Citroen museum, but with the application of some modellers' licence the Oxford model could, instead of an undersized H van, pass as an OO scale representation of a might-have-been G van catering unit. The model's wheelbase is virtually the same as that of Oxford's 2CV, the car on which the G van was based, so claiming it is in fact a G rather than an H is one way to get away with using it on an OO layout and that's what I intend to do.