As the orientation of the company continued to shift from seeking intermediate-term capital gains to long-term ownership and management, the decision was made to relocate the partnership headquarters from New York City to Houston. The transfer was accomplished in stages between 1987 and 1990 as the firm ceased to be an investment partnership and became an operating entity.

In 1994, the partnership decided to generate more capital for operations and acquisitions by issuing $100 million of senior notes through Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., Inc. Consequently, the company was converted from a partnership to a corporation, J.B. Poindexter & Co., Inc., and John Poindexter became the sole shareholder.

The new corporation continued its active acquisition program both before and after the sale of the senior notes. During this period it acquired 20th Century Fiberglass, Inc., GemTop Manufacturing, Inc., and the companies comprising Raider Industries, all of which are manufacturers of pickup truck accessories. Additional purchases included Midwest Truck Accessories, Inc., a distributor of aftermarket truck accessories, KWS Manufacturing Company, Inc., a manufacturer of bulk material handling systems and conveyors, Universal Brixius, Inc., a contract manufacturer, and Beltrami Door, a fabricator of vehicular doors. The revenues of the new acquisitions, together with others not described here, approximated $200 million. Aside from the acquisitions, J.B. Poindexter & Co., Inc. undertook a large-scale expansion of Leer, Inc.'s retail and wholesale distribution system for pickup truck accessories.