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[rcm195]

Just a curious “what-if”. What if a finding of crude oil deposits in California had been made in 1965 that was twice as large as all the oil in Saudi Arabia? Easy to access and light sweet crude. How might this have changed, if any, pump prices, auto designs, the increases of imported automobile to the US in the decades leading up to the 21st century? No right or wrong answers. Just a curiosity for me. 😉

[Max Rockatansky]

Probably would have changed little aside perhaps lower fuel prices.  Momentum was pushing towards environmental conservation leading up to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and 1970 California Environmental Quality Act.  You still get the Malaise Era cars but perhaps a delay in the proliferation of four cylinder compacts.

[Revive 755]

No NMSL and the loss of better speed limits in many states?

[triplemultiplex]

With millions more people living there than there was when oil was first discovered in California, it would be significantly more difficult to extract it in many places.

It would also require a greatly altered geologic history for California.  Since it's a continental margin, there are a lot of active geologic processes in Cali that make it harder for hydrocarbons to accumulate like they did in Saudi Arabia.