I don't know about the 1970s, but in the 1950s, AVA and Mavic were the same company. At least they advertised always a "AVA - Mavic, materiel de securite" (safety equipment). AVA made handlebars and stems, Mavic rims and fenders.
Could be that they split up later, or that Mavic used the AVA name
for lower-priced rims.
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Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
http://www.mindspring.com/