Dan,
The type (...tubular, if you wish to remain true to its claim of having a "racing" heritage", versus clincher, which one may or may not deem to be more suitable should your intent to be to ride about with any degree of regularity), as well as the actual model of MAVIC rim itself, covers such a broad spectrum of possibilities that I am going to suggest you consider starting out by acquainting (...perhaps reacquainting) yourself with their once contemporary product offerings:
http://www.velo-pages.com/
...and then, perhaps, posing a question or two of more specificity. All of that said, if pressed for my personal preference given the existence of a true "...late 70s top end racing bike" in conjunction with what I read to be your stated desire for rims having a traditional Silver hue with respect to coloration, I would suggest MAVIC Argent 12 SSC tubular rims which were originally developed for the peloton and then commercialized back in 1975 (...not cheap to buy these days, but then again, they were grossly expensive back in the 1970's when they were still cutting edge equipment).
As for your second question, Campagnolo "curved handle" quick release mechanisms were begot of certain "safety" changes mandated by the U.S. Consumer Protection Safety Council (...i.e. the C.P.S.C.) which took effect here stateside what with the introduction of bicycles to be sold as of model year 1978 (...with the assumption and understanding that you are NOT referring to the obscure large flange Campag track hubs from the 1960's having curved handled quick releases). Because the U.S. market represented a disproportionate amount of worldwide cycling related component sales, and in conjunction with the fact that most companies were understandably reluctant to absorb the cost of maintaining bifurcated product lines, these very same C.P.S.C. regulations had the net effect of changing cycling components world wide (...albeit, Campagnolo and others did "dump" non C.P.S.C. compliant merchandise at discount around the world leading up to and immediately after said regulations took effect in the United States. Chuck Schmidt maintains a very worthwhile "Original Campagnolo Timeline" at his Velo-Retro website, and it is an excellent resource for addressing this very type of question:
http://www.velo-retro.com/
Robert "bienvenue à la Liste de CR" Broderick ...the "Chronically Cloudy Clime" of Oregon Portland, USA
> From: danevansdesign@yahoo.fr
> To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:47:43 +0000
> Subject: [CR] mavic rims
>
> evening all
>
> a few questions i hope to get some help with.
> i have a late 70s top end racing bike and i need to get some mavic rims for it. what sort should i get. i want to have alu coloured ones?
>
> when did bent camag quick release squewers start being used?
>
> dan evans
> aquitaine
> france