Hosted by the Industrial Designers Society of America, this interesting site highlights some of the most influential people and groundbreaking products in this field. Titled 100 Years of Design, the site has content that spans the 20th century and "is a monthly installment of excerpts from a proposed book" along the same lines. Fifteen famous designers are profiled, along with over 50 products....

About.com provides this review of Automobile History. The article covers the history of cars, famous automobile makers, and identifies the different models and automobile accessories/parts. The timelines section includes a link to a chronological history of the automobile. The feature article begins with the first steam, electrical, and gasoline-engine cars and goes on to tell of "the controversy...

The American Solar Challenge (ASC) is a competition to design, build and race solar-powered cars in a cross-country event. The 2003 race began on July 13 in Chicago, Illinois, followed historic Route 66, and ended in Claremont, California on July 23. As is stated, ASC promotes a greater understanding of solar energy technology, its environmental benefits, and its promise for the future. The...

George G. Scott, Jr. has been an auto mechanic for over thirty years, and he has also found time in his busy schedule to create this website dedicated to providing both the average person and future auto mechanics with information about car and truck repair. While the site does contain some banner advertisements, there is plenty of fine free material here as well. Visitors can begin their journey...

This resource on internal combustion engines comes from a mechanical engineering professor at Colorado State University. It is essentially an online textbook with three main chapters, which cover the topics of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid mechanics involved in engine operation. Users should have an understanding of basic engine components, and a background in calculus would be helpful....

This website provides and easy-to-read overview on how a car engine works, with more detailed pages and diagrams on Internal Combustion, Parts of an Engine, What Can Go Wrong, Engine Subsystems, How to Help an Engine Produce More Power, and other information. Note of warning: The site is heavy on advertising.

The National Academy Press's book about the cooperative research and development project between the US government and the US Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) is available free online. The Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) program was instigated by President Clinton in 1993 with the aim of increasing fuel efficiency of autos and enhancing the US automobile industry's...