Still mining the Master Truck Mirror database, this will take a while...
I dunno if it's worth your time G. Those pics have been circulating around for nearly 70 years and they're the most famous potentially credible UFO pics in history, and yet not one mechanic or body shop technician has ever noticed a viable resemblance to an existing side view mirror. Probably because it doesn't exist; but I'd love to be proven wrong.
Cheeky ?
I'm looking out the window right now and am pretty sure that's New York out there .....
Aw shit - that explains a Lot. I thought you were just irascible, but it turns out you're a New Yorker - irascible is sorta in the job description up there.
Admittedly I was just feeling like stirring the pot a bit. Yes, you'll have to wait because it isn't user friendly out there right now. Cold and wet and windy. My impression is that it's a truck mirror minus its glass that's been thrown. Weather permitting I will attempt to replicate it.
Here's the thing though - they examined the roll of negatives and those two shots were tucked in-between family photos in sequence. Look how well they line up at the right height and orientation like a fly-by. There's no way that happened by throwing a truck mirror up into the air. Between the perfectly placed throws, and the arcing trajectory under the acceleration of gravity, and that crappy top-view camera that he had, the chances of getting those two successive shots lined up like that would be like winning two different Powerballs on the same day. Feel free to try, but I don't see it happening.
The only other possibility is if it were hanging from one of those power lines, and a steel mirror like that would definitely make that wire bend. So that's out, imo. If that object is hanging from a wire, then it's quite light - much lighter than a steel mirror from a 50s-era vehicle.
Even if I used my Wayback Machine and went to the Trent farm that exact day and saw that it really was a truck mirror - and then brought it back with me and used it for my attempt at replication there would still be some detail that someone, somewhere will dispute. That's why I think UFO photos are cool but generally not helpful.
There's always some knucklehead who won't believe sensible empirical data - there are still people who think the Moon landings were a hoax, even though we have pics of the Rover tracks and abandoned equipment. The goal is to provide reasonable empirical evidence. If someone points out a mirror with that shape, and shows how the photos could be faked in sequence like that, then any reasonable person like myself will happily say "okay you win - that explains it."
(I can't believe that we're still arguing about this case...I understand that people hate to say "I dunno what that is...real or hoax," but that's how it is - this case remains unsolved...maybe it always will)
This wouldn't be the first time that I've done something just for the f*** of it so if I can get a decent day I'll see what I can come up with.
Awesome. Experimental efforts are always a great way to gain deeper understanding. If I were a betting man, I'd bet that you'd quickly find that replicating that sequence of photos with two perfect throws in succession would be nightmarishly difficult, nigh impossible.
I'd say, practice for awhile, and then see if you can take two successive shots that look like that. Because Trent could've done that. But he didn't have the luxury of taking a slew of pics and then choosing the ones to use, so that would be cheating.