A car show just for the one percenters? Welcome to Top Marques

Top Marques in Monaco is probably the least conventional car show we've been to in some time. Video shot by Elle Cayabyab Gitlin, edited by Jennifer Hahn.

MONTE CARLO, MONACO—From time to time we have reason to visit this odd little principality nestled between France and Italy on the Mediterranean. This year our trip happened to coincide with Top Marques, a fittingly Monegasque take on the car show—almost nothing but wall-to-wall supercars.

Finding the cars at Top Marques was easier said than done; after wandering around the displays of jewelry, diamond-encrusted barbells, and watches (including one stand with two MilSubs, a Double Red, and a pair of COMEX Sea Dwellers—watch nerds will appreciate that) we eventually found the cars at the back and up an escalator.

The first to greet us was an acid green Porsche 918 Hybrid sitting next to McLaren's 675LT, a car that's wowed just about everyone who's driven it. (Yes, we're still sad there was no US press car we could review.) Also present was one of our favorite mid-2000s supercars, Maserati's MC12. This more-exclusive take on the Ferrari Enzo (25 built compared to a little more than 400) was designed to bulldoze all opposition in GT1 racing—even though it was never technically legal according to the rules.

But those cars were almost conventional compared to some of the other metal and carbon fiber on display at the Grimaldi Forum.

Take the Vulcano Titanium. OK, I'll admit it, when I heard that someone had built a supercar out of the same stuff as the SR-71 my brain refused to process it properly. Why would they do that, I wondered? It's expensive, it's not that light, and it's a total bugger to work with. After chatting with the people from Vulcano, I came away with a newfound respect for their endeavor.

As it turns out, titanium is indeed a total bugger to work with. The car's chassis is a mix of carbon fiber and aluminum—it's just the body panels that are Ti, but even those were a gigantic pain to make. It couldn't be welded without discoloring and warping, and the traditional Italian method of panel forming (hammers and a buck) was no good thanks to Ti's memory. With that in mind, the complex curves and creases on the car seem more impressive, and it did look good under the lights. Vulcano say this will be the sole Titanium, presumably because no one needs to go through that headache all over again.

Listing image by Elle Cayabyab Gitlin