The Keys to La Buena Vida

Vidal is handing over the keys to the American dream.

At a super buen precio.

* * *

Vidal looks out of the fishbowl and admires the tableau he has arranged just outside.

Two cars, side by side. On the right, a silver 1999 Accord EX with a V6 engine and 88,000 miles. On the left, a gleaming carbon bronze 2006 EX.

The '99 is owned by Lucy Mendez, his 2 o'clock. Vidal sold it to her new, and now it's in for service. He's thinking she's thinking she deserves something new. He has picked out the carbon bronze with creamy leather and wood-grain trim, going for an elegant look that befits, he says, "a professional Hispanic lady." She is the district manager of a janitorial services company.

Check out this year's model, so sleek and sculpted, next to the boxy shape of ages ago.

Now check out the salesman. Vidal is a blend of formal reserve and switched-on charm. His style is sharp, not flashy: double-breasted black suit, red tie, tasseled loafers. He drives a five-year-old Honda S2000 convertible.

His first name sounds like "Hare-mahn." With customers who are not Hispanic, he introduces himself as "Herman."

When he started out in the early 1990s, local dealerships were realizing it was good business to serve customers in their own language. Now you hear Spanish in most showrooms. At 45, Vidal has survived a high-burnout profession longer than most.

Waiting for Mendez, he performs his pre-deal self-motivational ritual: In his mind's eye, he tries to see the future. He pictures his customer driving off in a new car, the months of car payments as mile markers on the road to qualifying for a mortgage. He will sell a car today.

The highlight of every sale is what he calls the Golden Moment.