Since this is car related, I'm starting a thread here to put information on all of the auto shows that are held in Monaco each year.

Luxury Auto Show is scheduled for the 26-29 of April 2009 at the Forum

The four-door convertible is one of those old-world luxuries that has long since been lost to the annals of history. Several automakers have contemplated reviving the body-style, known as the phaeton or parade car: Chrysler unveiled a Phaeton show car in 1997 before the company was acquired by Daimler-Benz, which in turn toyed with the idea in the Mercedes Ocean Drive concept in 2007 and the million-dollar, limited-production Maybach 62 Landaulet. But while these rare automobiles attempted to revive the classic body-style in splendid retro fashion, a team of Dutch engineers has given the idea a decidedly modern twist.

Called, in longwinded fashion, the Bewerp Savage Rivale Roadyacht GTS, the vehicle takes the four-door convertible concept and blends it with that of the most exotic supercars while throwing in some nautical cues, just to mix it up. Based on a custom space-frame chassis with carbon fiber body and powered by a Corvette-sourced 600-horsepower V8, the Rivale promises to deliver an entirely unique motoring experience to any buyer with the $340,000 to spare after it makes its debut this April during the exclusive Monaco Top Marques luxury automobile show at Prince Albert's Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo.

2009 Top Marques Auto Show

MONACO — The organizers of the annual Top Marques Monaco show bring a whole new meaning to the term "over the top." This year's event, which will be held April 16-19 at the Grimaldi Forum here, will feature new exotic cars, at least one boat and an airplane, among other ultra-luxury items.

The promoters are touting the world debut of the Savage Rivale Roadyacht GTS, from Amsterdam-based Bewerp, which they bill as "the first four-door coupe-convertible supercar." The unfortunately named Roadyacht features a chrome-moly chassis, a fiberglass body, a teak-inlaid cockpit inspired by yachts and a supercharged LS7 6.0-liter V8 that delivers 670 horsepower.

The latest Ferrari-inspired Innotech Corvette is slated to make its debut as well at the Top Marques show, sporting a 650-hp V8 and a top speed of 206 mph. It will be joined by such supercar stalwarts as the 650-hp Gumpert Apollo, the 600-hp Ronn Scorpion and the 507-hp Wiesmann GT MF5.

Among the surprise guests at this year's show is the Silvestris Sports Cabriolet, a new luxury power boat from a group of Dutch investors (including former Spyker designer Maarten de Bruijn) who are focused on the so-called "aquamotive industry."

Another show exhibitor is Smart Air, a Luxembourg company that offers fractional ownership in Diamond D-JET business jets across Europe.

Inside Line says: What, no locomotives? — Paul Lienert, Correspondent

Not an auto show, but an auto rally

From Thursday 29 January 2009 to Wednesday 4 February 2009
Monaco's 12th historic car rally
Events

Taking up the various sections of the old Monte-Carlo Rallies, the first Historic Car edition was held from January 15th to 18th, 1998, with the number of competitors limited to 60.

Very rapidly, this event hoisted itself to the top of the charts and is now considered by all competitors as the greatest historic winter race on roads. It appeals to more and more fans or former drivers who participated in the Monte-Carlo Rallies and want to experience at least once in their life-times this legendary race. From one year to the next, the Monaco Automobile Club receives an increasing number of applicants exceeding all its expectations, and a selection committee has been created to select the 300 or so vehicles authorized to come under starter’s orders from one of the “Concentration” towns.

Which is why, in the face of such renown, in addition to the splitting up of the Laps, the choice of the regularity tests, the Automobile Club of Monaco deploys the same diligence in managing this event as in that devoted to the Monte-Carlo Automobile Rally, the first leg in the FIA’s World Rally Championship.

Please note that for this 12th edition, Monte-Carlo will no longer be the point of departure but the regrouping town for all the concentration circuit itineraries.

Information : (377) 93 15 26 00

Getty has photos from todays Rally. They are going through the mountains in the snow. Here is the caption for one of the photos:

Monte Carlo Historical Rally
MONTE CARLO, MONACO - FEBRUARY 03: Guillermo Velasco and Eduardo Ansotegui of Spain drive a Lancia Fulvia 1600 HF (1973) on the twelfth stage from Entrevaux to Eze during the 12th Monte Carlo Historical Rally on February 3, 2009 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Over three hundred cars are entered in four different age categories, all having competed in at least one of the Monte Carlo rallies. The cars compete in the sixteen stages over four days in the south-east region of France. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Le marché des locations de terrasses et balcons, réservés d'une année sur l'autres par les écuries, les sponsors et certaines grandes banques, s'est littéralement effondré avec la crise. Et même si beaucoup de sociétés ont conservé une belle «surface financière», il est devenu indécent, en ces temps de récession, de venir en jet d'affaires sabler le champagne à Monaco.

:

Tr, Lou-gle:

The market for rentals of terrasses and balconies, reserved from one year to the next by the F1 car makers, sponsors and major banks, has literally floundered with the worldwide economic crisis. And even if many corporations on the surface have kept face, it has now become indecent, in times of recession, to fly in by company jet to toast champagne in Monaco.

A few months shy of the event, some people are getting worried according to local papers.