Dick Van Dyke -- BACK ON THE ROAD ... After Last Car Exploded

Dick Van Dyke tells TMZ ... outside of "being a little crispy around the edges," he's perfectly fine after last week's exploding car incident. In fact, he's already back behind the wheel of a new whip.

DVD was in Calabasas yesterday -- in a brand spankin' new Jaguar (a loaner) -- and the 87-year-old was still joking about the frightening moments when a Good Samaritan pulled him from his burning car on the side of the 101 Freeway.

"Well, I needed a little PR anyway," Van Dyke said.

Dick tells us he learned one big lesson from the incident -- a lesson that will probably restore your faith in humanity.