1987

Rebuilding After the 1989 Earthquake

On 28 December 1989, Newcastle was struck by one of Australia's most significant earthquakes, and John's original workshop was damaged beyond repair. Like many Novocastrians who rebuilt their homes and businesses in the years that followed, John didn't pack up and leave Lambton. He rebuilt next door, on the same site we still operate from today. It's a small detail, but it says a lot about the workshop's roots: through disaster and change, AutoHop Lambton has never left the Lambton community.

2000s

New Faces, New Chapter

The 2000s brought the people who would go on to shape the business for decades to come. Ian Baines joined the workshop in 2000, moving across from Newcastle Regal Motors with years of trade experience already under his belt. A year later, in 2001, a young Ben Hopper arrived in Newcastle from the small country town of Tallimba, chasing a shot at playing football for the Newcastle Knights. In 2002, Ben started working alongside John and Ian, learning the trade in the same workshop where he'd eventually become owner.

2008

A New Generation Takes the Wheel

John retired from the automotive trade in 2008, handing the business over to Ian and Ben. Together with their wives Sam and Amanda, the pair took on the workshop under the name Wilson's Auto Repairs, carrying forward the standards John had set nearly two decades earlier. Over time, Ian moved on to other pursuits, and Ben stepped up as sole owner, steering the business through the years that followed.

Amanda, who had spent years teaching primary school at Stockton Public School, made the move from the classroom to the workshop office, taking on the role of office manager while raising her and Ben's four young children. It's a detail that captures what AutoHop Lambton has always been: a genuine family business, run by people who are raising their kids in the same community they’ve spent decades serving.

2021

Becoming AutoHop Lambton

After years of trading as Wilson's Auto Repairs, Ben made the decision to rebrand the workshop to AutoHop Lambton, a fresh identity for a new era while holding onto everything the business was built on. The rebrand wasn't about becoming a different business. It was about giving a well-established, family-run workshop a name that reflects where it's headed, without losing sight of where it came from.

Today

Where We Are Today

Today, AutoHop Lambton is run by a team with more than 65 years of combined experience, still working out of the same Wyong Rd site that's been home to this workshop since the 1980s. We're MTA members and IAME-qualified, holding Licence No. MVRL511954, and we've trained apprentices who are now becoming the next generation of Newcastle mechanics. What hasn't changed since 1987 is the way we treat customers: like neighbours, because in a lot of cases, they are.

36 Wyong Rd, Lambton NSW 2299, Australia