Im having issues coding css

HI all, so first of all the following code works, it pulls out cars from a database and displays it on a table on my website. The problem I am having
is formatting the table with css code I want to be able to change the table background. change the font size and color of Car Size and Image and other minor things.
any help is appreciated

/*note i am linking successfully to my external css sheet */

<?php

mysql_connect("localhost","user","blah") or die(mysql_error());// connect to the database
  mysql_select_db("blah") or die(mysql_error()); // select database
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM cars where carType = 'ford' AND active = 1")  or die(mysql_error());

echo "<div id = 'tabledbs'>";
echo"<table border cellpadding = 3>";

if(mysql_num_rows($query) > 0){
echo"<tr><th>Car Name</th>                                                                                                     
<th>Image</th</tr>";
   while($row = mysql_fetch_array($query)){

/* Displays contents from database */
echo"<tr><td>" .$row['name'] . "</td>                                                                                              
<td><img src='".$row['imagePath'] ."'width='160' height='130'/></td></tr>";
echo "</div>";
   }
}else{

   echo "There are no cars to be displayed in the website;

}

?>

this is my attempt on my external css file

#tabledbs{background_color:black}
//would also like to change font size,colors,etc