It has been variously claimed that the average time between engine failures is 3000-10000 hours, so if you have had "loads" of failures you either must have tens of thousands of hours, or have been very unlucky.
This is a route I have trodden in so many threads here and elsewhere that I really can't get up the energy to go through it again. I suggest that you search for my previous discussions on the subject.
The hightlights are seven failures in pistons, two in jets, most (but not all) have been in multi-engined aircraft. None have been "vintage" in the sense you mean. The ones in SEPs I have managed to either restart or limp/glide to a runway.
I have had far, far more engine failures than the average, and equally computers, cars and, above all, wrist watches all fail for me big time. I have been given physical and meta-physical explanations ranging from luck, karma, an intense aura, to high levels of static electricity to an ability to create a discontinuity in space/time, a talent which apparently I share with Yuri Geller...except he makes money out of the "skill" and I lose it every time anything breaks
Hey, pal, I don't know why engines and every other ****ing thing fails for me...I just know it's a pain. Go and talk to the guy who did the avionics refit in my Aztec and ask for an explanation as to why so much brand new kit failed within a month...or talk to the TBM700 pilot with wet shoes....or talk to the Citroen garage that has sepnt more in spares during my C5's waranty period than I spent on the car.
I just don't know the answer.
Timothy